


Life Finds A Way

by KryptonianHero



Series: Life cannot be contained. Life breaks free... Life finds a way [1]
Category: Jurassic Park (1993), Jurassic Park (Movies), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex is Ian Malcolm, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, J'onn is John Hammond, James is Robert Muldoon, Kara is Alan Grant, Lena is Ellie Sattler, Lucy is Alexis Murphy, Maxwell is Henry Wu, Morgan is Donald Gennaro, Mxyzptlik is Dennis Nedry, Rewrite, Samuel L. Jackson is still Ray Arnold, Winn is Tim Murphy, complete rewrtie, they're still kids though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-02-11 15:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12937854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KryptonianHero/pseuds/KryptonianHero
Summary: CEO and Industrialist J'onn J'onzz and his bio-engineering company, DEO, have created a theme park called Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar, a Costa Rican island, filled with recreated dinosaurs.After one of the dinosaur handlers is injured by one of the dinosaurs, the park's investors, represented by lawyer Morgan Edge, demand that experts visit the park and certify it is safe. Edge invites mathematician and chaos theorist Alex Danvers, while Hammond invites paleontologist Dr. Kara Danvers and her girlfriend/coworker, paleobotanist Dr. Lena Luthor.But when sabotage causes the island to lose power and the dinosaurs to escape. The group must try and survive as they are hunted down by the world's most deadliest predators ever known to walk the Earth, now living in a strange and new world.





	1. Spared No Expense

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ: If you read my Arrowverse rewrite of Injustice: Gods Among Us, you'll have noticed that the story and speech was heavily copied by the actual game script, with a few new elements in between. So, if you didn't like that fact, don't read this story. Whilst this will have some new elements and the characters have changed, story wise, this is an exact retelling of the original film.
> 
> You've been warned.

An eyeball. Big, yellowish and distinctly inhuman, stares raptly between the wooden slats that make up part of the large crate. The eye darts from side to side, alert as hell as it scans its surroundings. The crate is on Isla Nublar, a small island over a hundred miles off the coast of Costa Rica, but to the creature, it's in the middle of nowhere. It's quiet for a second, the creature quiet as it listens for anything before a roar rises up from the jungle, deafening to any living creature near it. The trees begin to shake as something very, very large starts to plough straight through them, right at the crate. Every head gathered in this little clearing, surrounding the crate snaps to the side, turning in the direction of the sound as it bursts through the trees. It's a bulldozer. It drops its large scoop and pushes forward, driving the scoop into the back end of the crate as it begins shoving it across the jungle floor towards a large, impressive fenced structure that towers over an enclosed section of thick jungle. There's a guard tower at one end of the holding, making the area almost look like the wall of a prison. The bulldozer pushes forward into the back end, the crate thudding as it collides with the fence. The door slides open in the pen, making a space as big as the end of the crate. Nobody moves for a second, all watching carefully as a grim faced man who seems to be in charge speaks.

 

"Alright now, pushers move in. Loading team move it," James Olsen orders, gesturing at the pushers. The movement is agitated as whatever is inside the crate shivers. It starts growling and snapping, the noises coming from inside, causing everyone to move back, "alright, steady. Get back in there now, push. Get back in there, Don't let her know you're afraid!"

 

The men go back to the crate and begin to push it into the large slots. The crate slams up against the opening. A green light on the fence to the side of the pen lights up, showing the needed contact has been made. From inside the crate, the workers can get glimpses of what's on the other side of those wooden slates. On the other side of the crate is jungle foliage and a large number of men with large rifles with searching searchlights. The view is jerky for the creature as the crate put into position.

 

"Well locked loading team, step away. Joffrey, raise the gate," James praised them before turning to the man named Joffrey.

 

Joffrey climbs to the top of the crate, clearly nervous as his body shakes with fear. The searchlights are trained on the door as the riflemen throw the bolts on their rifles and the men holding the stun batons crack their weapons, sending arcs of electricity through the air. Joffrey gets ready to grab the gate, hands shaking when all at once, a roar bellows from the inside the crate and the panel flies out of his hands, smacking into his stomach, knocking him clear off the crate. Everything happens at once as Joffrey slams into to the jungle floor whilst the crate jerks away from the mouth of the holding pen, the green light switching off. The alarm buzzer begins to sound as a claw lashes out from inside the crate, the sharp talons extending. It sinks into Joffrey's ankle, dragging him towards the dark mouth between the crate and the pen as he wails in agony, pawing at the dirt, leaving long claw marks as he is rapidly dragged towards the crate, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

 

James yells an order, "tasers! Get in there! Goddamn it!"

 

The men with their rifles begin firing their guns, the wood of the crate splintering and breaking apart as James runs in, diving to the ground as he grabs for Joffrey, trying to pull him free. The arcs of electricity from the stun batons flash and crack all around as the creature wails in protest, but in a second, the worker is gone. James yells, slamming his fist into the dirt.

 

"Dammit! Someone get me a phone! Looks like I'm gonna have to tell J'onzz about this mess," James orders, standing up and wiping the blood and dirt of his clothes.

 

* * *

 

 

Somewhere at the Mano De Dios Amber Mine in the Dominican Republic, Morgan Edge a short business man wearing a city man's idea of hiking clothes with his hundred dollar haircut approaches the shore on a raft being pulled across a river by two men. On the hillside, Juan Rostagno, a smart-looking guy in workers clothes, is waiting for him patiently. Edge finally lands, and Juan helps him off the raft.

 

"Hola, Juanito," Edge greets as he jumps off the raft, landing in the dry mud.

 

"Hola, bienvenido," Juan replies, shaking Edge's hand. Juan begins leading Edge towards the mine, discussing how the workers have been doing over the past few months. As they reach the mine, they are greeted by the sight of dozens of shirtless workers, all clawing and scraping at the rocky mountainside that's the site of an extensive mining operation. They are all working hard and the work is all done by hand, pick and shovel being used instead of the classic dynamite and bulldozer. 

 

"What's this I hear at the airport? J'onzz's not even here?" Edge asks.

 

"He sends his apologies," Juan replies.

 

"You're telling me that we're facing a $20 million lawsuit from the family of that injured worker and J'onzz couldn't even be bothered to see me?" Edge snapped, wiping the rough dust off his face.

 

"He had to leave early to be with his daughter," Juan explained, "she's getting a divorce."

 

"I'm sorry to hear that. We'd be well advised to deal with this situation now. The insurance company-" Edge is cut off as he slips on a large, muddy puddle. He loses his footing and goes to fall to the ground, but Juan helps him up. Edge mutters his thanks and wipes his hands on his case, grumbling about hating the outdoors before continuing, "-the underwriters of the park feel the accident raises some very serious questions about the safety of the park, and they're making the investors very anxious. I had to promise I would conduct a thorough on-site inspection."

 

"Hammond hates inspections. They slow everything down, he says," Juan comments, smirking.

 

"Yeah well, Juan, if they pull the funding, that will really slow things down," Edge retorts.

 

One of the many workers suddenly hurries up to them, sweaty and out of breath,  bursting into the conversation, speaking to Juan, he says, "Jefe, encontramos otro mosquito, en el mismo sitio," which translates to, _"c_ _hief, we found another mosquito in the same place."_

 

Juan suddenly looks excited, "Seguro? Muestrame!" which means _"Are you sure? Show me."_

 

The worker and Juan begin scrambling back deeper into the mine, sliding along the mud as Juan turns his head and calls back over his shoulder to Edge, yelling, "It seems like it's going to be a good day after all. They found another one! C'mon."

 

Edge begins to follow, struggling to keep up. Juan and Edge move into the dark, dripping cave, where at least a dozen other workers are all gathered in a tight circle against one of the walls, staring at something intently. Juan has to fight his way to the centre of the group, where one of the workers hands him something and Juan examines it carefully. Edge looks at it, and realises what it is. It's a chunk of amber, small but heavy. It's a shiny yellow rock that could be described as about the size of a half dollar. 

 

"If two experts sign off on the island, the insurance guys'll back off. I already got Alex Danvers, but they think she's too trendy. They want her estranged adopted sister, Kara Danvers," Edge explains as Juan examines the rock.

 

"Danvers? Kara Danvers? You'll never get her out of Montana," Juan smirks, not looking away from the amber.

 

"Why not?" Edge asks.

 

"Because she's like me," Juan replies, looking at Edge, "she's a digger."

 

Juan turns and holds the amber up to the beam of sunlight that is streaming through the mouth of the cave. With the light pouring through it, the amber became translucent to everyone surrounding him, and they can all clearly see something inside the strange stone. It's a huge mosquito, long dead, entombed there for millions of years, but the secrets that it holds will last forever.

 

* * *

 

 

Somewhere else, in the middle of a large badland, an artist's camel hair brush carefully sweeps away sand and rock to slowly reveal the dark curve of a fossil in the ground. It's a claw, and a long one at that. It's curved like the moon and has a sharp point that would put the sharpest knife to shame. A dentist's pick carefully lowers down and gently lifts it from the place it has laid for millions of years. Surrounding them, a large group of diggers are all working on a large skeleton that's cemented in the ground. They're all wearing sunglasses and hats to protect them from the sun and the dirt. The paleontologist working on the claw picks it up gently and lays it in her hand.

 

"Four complete skeletons in such a small area, all in the same time horizon," Doctor Kara Danvers mumbles to herself as she examines the claw up closely with her eyes.

 

Kara's girlfriend and coworker Lena Luthor kneels down next to her, staring at the claw, "they died together?"

 

"The taphonomy sure looks that way," Kara nods, stroking the claw to feel the bone.

 

"If they died together, they lived together. Suggests some kind of social order," Lena states, pressing her finger to the discovery.

 

Doctor Kara Danvers is a short pretty blonde woman, late twenties, wearing baggy clothes with her straw hat and her sunglasses. She worked with such intense concentration that you wouldn't want to get in the way of. This was obvious as she carefully examined the claw. Her coworker/girlfriend, Doctor Lena Luthor, a woman in her early thirties, is working with her, leans in close and studies it too. She carefully paints the exposed bone with rubber cement. After years of working and dating her, Kara knew that there is an impatience about Lena, as if nothing happens fast enough for her. Their faces are practically pressed against each other as they study the claw, not that they mind.

 

"They hunted as a team," Kara explained, "the dismembered Tenontosaurus bone over there, that was their lunch... but what killed our raptors in a lake bed? In a bunch like this? We better come up with something that makes sense."

 

Lena nods, "a drought," she suggested, "the lake was shrinking."

 

Kara brightened at this, pressing a quick kiss to Lena's cheek,  "that's good. That's right Lena! They died around a dried-up puddle! Without fighting each other! This is looking good," she replies excitedly.

 

From the bottom of the hill, the voice of Susan Vasquez, one of the volunteers and long term friends of the couple called up to them, "Kara! Lena! We're ready to try again!"

 

Kara sighs and stands up, pressing her hands to the bottom of her spine as she stretched her back, "I hate computers," she mumbled as Lena stood next to her.

 

She shoves the claw absentmindedly into her pocket as she and Lena walk toward the voice of their friend. As they walk, they look at the badlands. Exposed outcroppings of limestone stretches for miles in every direction. Not a single tree or a bush in sight, no vegetation whatsoever. In the dig itself, the ground is littered with excavations everywhere. There's a base camp with six tepees plus a massive, flapping mess tent, a few cards, a flatbed truck which is holding the wrapped fossils that have been loaded onto it and a mobile home. There are a dozen volunteers of all ages at work in various places around the dig. They're all from different walks of life, including dinosaur buffs, families, scientists. Three of them have their children with them, and the kids run around, like they're in a giant sandbox. Kara, Lena and Vasquez walk down the hill. Kara looks around and spots a young boy kicking dirt onto one of the digs. She watches and frowns.

 

"What's that kid doing?" she asks Lena before rushing to the boy, "what are you doing there!? Excuse me! Hello, hi. Could you please just back off from this area? This is very fragile! Why don't you go and find your parents or play somewhere else, please?" the boy grumbles and storms off, muttering 'asshole' which Kara frowns at. She walks back to Lena and Vasquez, "did you see what he just did? Why do they have to bring their kids Lena?"

 

"You could hire your help," Lena shrugs, "but there's four summers of work here, with the money for one. And you said it's a learning experience, sort of like a cool vacation, your words by the way, and you get volunteers with kids, and most kids are fascinated by the dinosaurs."

 

Kara and Lena arrive to where several of the volunteers are clustered around a computer terminal that's set up on a small table in one of the many small tents, its flaps lashed open. 

 

"Ready to give it a shot Susan?" Kara asks as Vasquez takes her seat.

 

A little girl stands in front of Kara and Lena, trying to see the screen. Lena crouches next to her, and speaks, "want to watch the computer?" the girl nods shyly, "there's a spot next to me where you can see," the girl moves to Lena's side, and sure enough, she can see the screen. Kara smiles at the interaction.

 

"Thumper ready?" Vasquez asks as she presses some of the keys on the keyboard.

 

"Ready!"

 

"Fire!" Vasquez orders. She throws a switch on a large machine that looks a bit like a floor buffer, causing the whole thing to hop up into the air as it drives a soft lead pellet into the Earth with a tremendous force. There is a thud as the Earth seems to vibrate. All eyes turn to the computer screen.

 

"How long does this usually take?" Lena inquires.

 

"It should be immediate return. You shoot the radar into the ground, the bone bounces back...." Vasquez explains, the screen suddenly comes alive as yellow contour lines begin tracing across it in three waves, detailing the large dinosaur skeleton, "this new program's incredible! A few more years of development and you don't have to dig any more!"

 

Kara looks offended by her friends words, "well, where's the fun in that?"  


 

Realising her words, Vasquez awkwardly continued, "it looks a little distorted, but I don't think that's the computer."

 

Lena shakes her head at the interaction, "postmortem contraction of the posterior neck ligaments," she turns to Kara, "Velociraptor?"

 

Kara nods, "yeah. Good shape, too. Five, six feet high. I'm guessing nine feet long. Look at the-" she reaches forward and taps the screen, causing the device to beep and the screen to change. Kara pulls back like she's been shocked.

 

"What'd you do?" Vasquez asks.

 

"She touched it," Lena replied, she turned to the crowd, "Dr Danvers isn't machine compatible."

 

"They've got it in for me," Kara added.

 

Vasquez laughs as she touches a different part of the screen, which brings the original image back. Kara continues, but doesn't get as close, "look at the half-moon shaped bone in the wrist. No wonder these guys learned to fly," the group laughs, and Kara is surprised, "no, seriously. Show of the hands. How many of you have read my book?" everyone stops laughing and looks away awkwardly. Lena raises her hand supportively, and so does Vasquez, Kara pouts slightly, "great. Well maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present day birds than reptiles. Look at the pubic bone, it's turned backwards, just like a bird. The vertebrae, see, full of hollows and air sacs, just like a bird. Even the word raptor means 'bird of prey'."

 

The boy from earlier steps forward and looks at the computer skeleton critically, "that doesn't look very scary. More like a six-foot turkey."

 

Everyone sort of draws in their breath and steps aside watching Kara, revealing the boy to the woman, standing alone. Kara turns to the boy and lowers her sunglasses, staring at him like he just came from another planet. She strolls over to the boy, putting her arm around his shoulders in a friendly way, "try to imagine yourself in the Jurassic Period, or in the Cretaceous Period."

 

Lena rolls her eyes, saying, "here we go," under her breath.

 

Kara ignores her, and continues, "you'd get your first look at the six-foot turkey as you move into a clearing. But the raptor, he knew you were there a long time ago," she explains, "he moves like a bird; lightly, bobbing his head, And you keep still, because you think maybe his visual acuity's based on movement, like a T-Rex's, and he'll lose you if you don't move," Kara pauses, "but no. Not the Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares back. But you see, that's when the attack comes, but it's not from the front, no, it comes from the side, from the other two raptors you didn't even know were there."

 

Kara walks around the kid, who stares at her like she has two heads.

 

"Now, Velociraptors are pack hunters, you see, so he uses coordinated attack patterns, and he's out in force today," she continues, "and he slashes at you with this," she takes the claw from her pocket and holds it between her two middle fingers, "a six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. They don't bother to bite the jugular, like a lion, instead, they just slash here, here," she points to the boy's chest and thigh, making slashing motions with the claw, "or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines."

 

The boy is now on the verge of tears, but that doesn't stop her.

 

"The point is, you're alive when they start to eat you. Whole thing took about four seconds," Kara smirks, "so, you know, try to show a little respect..."

 

"O-Owen Grady."

 

"Owen Grady. There you go, you learnt something new today," Kara replies, smiling sweetly like she didn't just traumatise the child.

 

With that, she walks back across the camp, returning to her skeleton. Lena hurries to catch up with her.

 

"You know, if you really wanted to scare the kid you could've just pulled a gun on him," Lena smirks.

 

Kara sighs, "yeah, I know, I was a bit harsh, but, you know...kids. You want to have one of those?"

 

"Well, not one of those," Lena shakes her head, "not like that Owen, but yeah, possibly one at some point could be a good thing. What's so wrong with kids?"

 

"Nothing. It's just when they're like him, it puts me off. They whine, complain, act like they know everything. No respect, the lot," Kara whines, "I don't want a kid like Owen."

 

Lena shakes her head teasingly, "it frustrates me so much that I love you, that I need to strangle you right now!" she pulls Kara in for a quick kiss, who smiles bashfully.

 

A strange wind suddenly appears from nowhere, starting to build up. Kara and Lena look around, confused. The wind starts getting stronger, blowing dirt and sand everywhere, beginning to fill in everything they've dug out, blowing the protective canvasses off. Now a more familiar roar begins to sound, and they look up and see it, a huge helicopter, descending on the camp.

 

"Get some canvasses and cover anything that's exposed!" Lena yells to the volunteers.

 

Kara was already on it, trying to desperately to protect the skeleton she and Lena had been excavating. She looks up at the helicopter and shouts at the top of her voice, shaking her fist dramatically. At the base camp, the helicopter finally lands, and the pilot climbs out, waiting as Kara comes down from the mountaintop like Moses steaming. She gestures wildly at him to turn the chopper off. The pilot points timidly to a mobile home across the camp, so Kara runs to the trailer.

 

She reaches the trailer and enters, the door slamming open and Kara storms in, "what the hell do you think you're doing in here?"

 

The trailer serves as the dig's official office. There are several long wooden tables set up, each having every inch covered with bone specimens that are neatly laid out, tagged, and labelled, all done by Kara. Farther along are some ceramic dishes and crocks, soaking the other bones in acid and vinegar. There's old dusty furniture at one end of the trailer with a refrigerator. The man roots around in the refrigerator, his back to Kara as he grumbles about the contents, which are mostly beer. His hand falls across a bottle of expensive champagne in the back. He pulls it out and lets out a 'ah ha' as he pops the cork off.

 

Kara stares incredulously at the Man, holding her champagne bottle without an invitation, "hey, we were saving that!"

 

"For today, I guarantee it," the man smiles happily.

 

"And who in Rao's name do you think you are?" she asks, pointing her finger at him.

 

"J'onn J'onzz. And I am delighted to finally meet you in person Dr Danvers," he replies, shaking her pointing hand weirdly.

 

"Mr... J'onzz?"

 

J'onn looks around the trailer approvingly, at the enormous amount of work the bones represent, "I can see my fifty thousand a year as been well spent."

 

The door slams open again and Lena comes in, just as pissed off as Kara was, "alright. Who's the jerk?"

 

"Uh, this is our paleobotanist, Doctor Lena-" Kara started.

 

"Luthor," Lena finished.

 

"Lena, this is Mr J'onzz," Kara added, and in case Lena didn't catch it, she added, "J'onn J'onzz."

 

Lena froze slightly, chuckling awkwardly, "did I say jerk?"

 

"I'm sorry for the dramatic entrance, but I'm in a hurry. Will you have a wee bit of a drink now and then?" J'onn asked. He began to walk into the kitchen, making himself at home. Lena follows him, trying to help. Kara settles behind the table, "come along then, don't let it get warm! Come on in, both of you. Sit down."

 

As Hammond moves, they notice he walks with a slight limp and uses a cane, for balance or style, though, it's hard to say which.

 

"I have samples all over the kitchen," Lena mutters, as she takes some of the stones out of the glasses.

 

"I know my way around a kitchen," J'onn chuckled.

 

Lena goes around towards Kara, as she grabs a bottle of water. They look at each other, really taken aback by this guy's bravado, and sit down whilst J'onn dries the glasses.

 

"Well now, I'll get right to the point," J'onn started, "I like you. Both of you. I can tell instantly with people, it's a gift. I own an island. Off the coast of Costa Rica. I leased it from the government and spent the last five years setting up a kind of... biological preserve, you could say, down there. Really spectacular. Spared no expense. It makes the one I had in Kenya look like a petting zoo. No doubt that sooner or later our attractions will drive the kids out of their minds. But, not just kids, for everyone. We're going to open next year. Unless the lawyers kill me first. I don't care for lawyers. There's one, however, a particular pebble in my shoe. He represents my investors. He says they insist on outside opinions."

 

"What kind of opinions?"

 

"Not to put a fine point on it, your kind. Let's face it, in your particular field, you're the top minds. If I could just get you two to sign off on the park, you know, give a wee testimonial, I could get back on schedule," J'onn explains.

 

"Why would they care what we think?" Lena asks at the same time Kara asks, "what kind of park?"

 

J'onn smiles, "well, it's right up your alley," he replies, handing Kara a drink, "look, why don't you both come on down for the weekend. Love to have the opinion of a paleobotoanist as well," he adds, handing Lena a drink, "I've got a jet standing by at Choteau."

 

"No, I'm sorry, that wouldn't be possible. We've just discovered a new skeleton, and-" Kara starts.

 

Pouring himself a drink, he cuts her off, "I could compensate you by fully funding your dig."

 

Kara, still talking, doesn't hear that, "this would be an awfully unusual time-"

 

"For a further three years," he finishes.

 

Kara lets out a squeak of protest as Lena elbows her hard in the ribs, cutting her off.

  
"Where's the plane?"

 

* * *

 

 

Mxyzptlik is a man in his late twenties, an average sized guy with a constant, weird smile that could either be laughing with you or at you. He sits at a table in front of a Central American cafe, eating breakfast on a beach at San Jose in Costa Rica. He looks up and sees a man getting out of a battered, old taxi called Lewis Dodgson, a man in his fifties, wearing a large straw hat and looking almost too much like an American tourist. Dodgson was clutching a case close to him and scans the cafe furtively. Mxyzptlik laughs, shakes his head, and waves to him.

 

"Dodgson!"

 

The man hurried over to the table, scolding Mxyzptlik, "you shouldn't use my name!"

 

"Dodgson, Dodgson. We got Dodgson here!" Mxyzptlik yells, gesturing around to the other tourists, "see, nobody cares. Nice hat. What are you trying to look like, a secret agent?"

 

Dodgson ignores him, setting his case down on to the table, and slides it towards Mxyzptlik, "seven fifty."

 

Mxyzptlik smiles and pulls the case closer to him.

 

"On delivery, however, fifty thousand more for ever viable embryo," Dodgson explains, "that's one point five million. If you get all fifteen species off the island."

 

"Oh I'll get them all," Mxyzptlik chuckles.

 

"Remember, viable embryos. They're no use to us if they don't survive," Dodgson adds.

 

"How am I supposed to transport them?" Mxyzptlik asks.

 

 

Dodgson pulls an ordinary can of shaving cream from the shoulder bag he carries and sets it on the table, "The bottom screws open; it's cooled and compartmentalised inside. They can even check it if they want. Press the top," Mxyzptlik does so, pressing the top of the can and watching as real shaving cream comes out. He grins, impressed. While Dodgson talks, Mxyzptlik looks around for somewhere to wipe the shaving cream and ends up dumping it on top of someone's Jell-O on a dessert tray next to him, "there's enough coolant gas for thirty-six hours."

 

Mxyzptlik looked at him, "what? No menthol?"

 

"The embryos have to be back here in San Jose by then!"

 

"That's up to your guy on the boat. Seven o'clock tomorrow night, at the east dock. Make sure he got it right," Mxyzptlik tells him, eating more of his breakfast.

 

"I was wondering, how are you planning to beat the security?" Dodgson asks.

 

"I got an eighteen minute window. Eighteen minutes, and your company catches up on ten years of research," Mxyzptlik reveals. A waiter arrives and puts the check down on the table between them. Mxyzptlik looks down at it pointedly, then up at Dodgson, "don't get cheep on me Dodgson!" Dodgson rolls his eyes and picks up the check, "that was Hammond's mistake."

 

* * *

 

 

_FINITO FOR CHAPTER ONE. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS AND PLEASE, LEAVE A KUDOS OR BOOKMARK THE STORY IF YOU'VE ENJOYED IT_

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. It's Been A While

The jet lands roughly on the runway as the dust swirls around off the ground. Lena and Kara jerk around as the jet comes to a stop. J'onn watches in amusement, looking over the brim of his glasses at the couple. 

  
"I apologise for the rough landing, dears," he chuckles. He gestures to the pilots door with his arm, not looking away, "the pilot's new. Just received his license."

 

"I'm sorry what?" Lena asks, clutching her stomach as she tries to keep her lunch inside, "he's only just got his license?"

 

"Of course," J'onn replies, "I like to give everyone a chance. He earned his license, so why not give him a chance?"

 

Kara and Lena nod, "so who else is gonna be here? Anyone else joining us?" Kara asks, drinking her water as the men outside pull the stairs up to the door.

 

"Morgan Edge, the man representing my investors, as I mentioned. He's bringing along a chaos theorist that you'll be familiar with Doctor Danvers. She's your sister, Alex."

 

Kara freezes, her grip on the arm rests of her chair tightening as Lena places her hand on Kara's reassuringly. J'onn notices her discomfort, and his usual happy smile disappears, replaced with a worried frown.

 

"Is that a problem, Doctor Danvers?" he asks.

 

Kara doesn't answer, breathing heavily. Lena watches her, and replies for her, "when Kara was adopted as a teenager, her sister Alex... wasn't so welcoming like her parents. Alex ignored her a lot, bullied her at school. So when Kara moved out, she cut all contact with Alex. They haven't spoken since she was 19."

 

"Ah," J'onn replied in understanding, "if it's too much, I can always request she leaves. I don't want my visitors to be uncomfortable."

 

Kara shakes her head, "no, no. I'll be fine. I just... I didn't expect it, that's all. I'll be fine." She looks out at the helicopter that is at the helipad near the airport, and Kara can see the familiar yet not red hair of Alex Danvers.

 

* * *

 

 

The helicopter, which reads DEO emblazoned in big black letters on the side, skims low over the shimmering Pacific Ocean as it heads towards the small island, hidden in the mist. Kara, Lena, Morgan Edge and Alex Danvers are huddled in the back of the chopper, J'onn is sitting in the front with the pilot, discussing the park. Morgan Edge, recently having returned from the amber mine, is now dressed in cliche safari clothes, gone his city uniform, with everything straight from Banana Republic. Alex Danvers, recently turned 30, is dressed all in black, with a snakeskin boots and sunglasses. If Kara wasn't angry at her, Kara would say she hasn't changed a bit. Alex, finding it hard to take her eyes off Kara, leans over and yells over the engine whine.

 

"So you two dig up dinosaurs?" she asks. If Lena wasn't glaring at her, she'd congratulate her for at least attempting to catch up on Kara's life.

 

Kara doesn't look away from the window, but yells back, "try to!"

 

Alex chuckles awkwardly, and dejectedly, sitting back into her chair. J'onn turns around and looks at the trio, noticing Kara's discomfort, so he tries to clear the air.

 

"I was warned to get use to you Doctor Danvers! I was told you suffer from a bad excess of personality, especially for a mathematician!" he chuckles.

 

Alex frowns, "well for one, that's not true. My coworkers told me I have no personality. And two, I'm a chaotician."

 

J'onn snorts.

 

"J'onn doesn't subscribe to Chaos," Alex yells to Lena, who doesn't look interested, "particularly what it has to say about his little science project!"

 

"That's codswollop!" J'onn barks, "Alex, you've never come close to explaining these concerns of yours about this island!"

 

"I certainly have!" Alex retorts, "very clearly! Because of the behaviour of the system in phase space!"

 

J'onn waves her off, literally, "a load of crap, if I may say so Alex. Of fashionable number crunching, that's all it is!"

 

Alex, clearly not happy with his statement, turns to Kara and Lena, and tries to converse with them, "Kara, Lena. You've heard of Chaos Theory?"

 

Lena doesn't wait to say, "no."

 

"No? Non-linear equations? Strange attractions?" Lena shrugs, "but I heard you ran your family company for a while," Lena shakes her head, "Doctor Luthor, seriously, you're not familiar with the concept of attraction!"

 

Lena looks annoyed and pulls out her phone, giving Alex the hint to stop talking, which she does. Kara just rolls her eyes as Alex sits back, but Lena smiles softly, noticing Kara's discomfort, placing her hand on her knee. J'onn turns to Edge and gives him a dirty look.

 

"I bring scientists and you bring a rockstar!?" he snaps, "Jesus, Edge. This is serious!" before Edge can respond, J'onn claps, gaining everyone's attention, "there it is!"

 

Kara, Lena and Alex move themselves to get a better view, pressing their heads against the windows. Up ahead, the island begins to appear through the fog that surrounds the land. Isla Nublar. It's a small island, completely ringed by clouds that give it a mysterious feeling. The pilot begins to pull up, moving over a spot in the clouds and starts to descend, fast. 

 

"Bad wind shears! We have to drop pretty fast!" J'onn announces, "hold on, this can be a little thrilling!" The helicopter drops like a stone, and the group clutches their seats tightly. Outside the windows, they can all see cliff walls racing by close. They bounce around the metal vehicle like hell, J'onn however, still manages to speak, "we're planning on building an runway! On pilings, going out into the ocean at twelve thousand feet! Like La Guardia airport, only a lot safer of course! What do you guys think?"

 

They don't answer, instead, just choosing hold on as they descend. As they near the ground, a bright white cross appears below them as the landing pad that shines through the glass bubble in the floor of the chopper. The cross grows larger as the chopper plummets, but a sudden up-draft catches them and they bounce up for a moment before dropping again, even faster, if that was possible before landing with a hard bump on the concrete helipad. One of the many workers, wearing a bright orange jacket, runs up to the door, and against the strong winds from the rotors, manages to slide the side doors open. J'onn is the first to climb out, looking around proudly as the others stumble, disorientated from the flight. They all march over to two orange Ford Explorers, both parked at the edge of the helipad as they climb in, Lena, Kara and Alex climb in to the front one whilst J'onn and Morgan Edge climb into the back one. 

 

They pass through an enormous gate in a thirty foot high fence, which closes behind them, controlled by two of the many park attendants. There are large electrical insulators on the fences, as the warning lights that strobe importantly flash repeatedly to show that there is power as the clear signs read "ELECTRIFIED FENCE! 10,000 VOLTS!" 

 

Edge stares at the fences critically, before turning to J'onn, "the full fifty miles of perimeter fence are in place?"

 

"And the concrete moats, and the motion sensor tracking systems," J'onn nods, sighing, "Morgan, do try to relax and enjoy yourself whilst you're here."

 

"Right. Let's get something straight, J'onn," Edge starts, "this is not a weekend excursion, this is a serious investigation of the stability of this island. Your investors, whom I am representing, are deeply concerned. Forty eight hours from now, if they..." he gestures to Kara, Lena and Alex, "...aren't convinced. I'm not convinced. I can and will shut you down J'onn."

 

"Forty-eight hours from now, I'll be accepting your apologies," J'onn replies, "now get out of the way so I can see them!" J'onn literally shoves Edge aside, aiming to get a clear view of Kara, Lena and Alex, "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

The jeeps wind their way down a mountain road. In the front jeep, Lena is staring off into the right, fascinated by all the thick tropical plant life around her. She tilts her head, almost as if something was wrong with the picture in front of her. She reaches out, grabbing a hold of one of the leafy branches as they drive by, tearing it from it's body. From the rear jeep, J'onn, who is watching Kara, speaks to both drivers through the speakers, signalling for them to stop.

 

Back in the front jeep, Lena is staring at the leaf in fascination, running her hand over it. She taps Kara with her other hand, "Kara?" But Kara's not paying attention. She's staring too, only this time, out the other side of the jeep. Kara notices that several of the tree trunks are leafless, just as thick as the other trees, but grey and bare, "this shouldn't be here? These no longer exist."

 

Kara twists in her seat as the jeep stops and looks at one of the grey tree trunks. She's riveted, eyes focusing as she stares at it. She slowly stands up in her seat, trying to get as close as she possibly could. She moves to the top of the seat, practically on her tiptoes. She raises her head, looking up the length of the trunk. She looks higher.

 

And higher.

 

And higher.

 

That's no tree trunk.

 

That's a leg.

 

Kara's jaw drops, her head falls all the way back, and she looks even higher above the tree line. 

 

Lena hasn't noticed at all, still entranced with the leaf in her hands as she speaks to Kara, "this species of vermiform was been extinct since the cretaceous period Kara. This thing-"

 

Kara, never tearing her eyes from the leg, reaches over and grabs Lena's head, turning her to face the animal. 

 

"Oh. My. God!" Lena gasps as she sees the sight in front of her. 

 

Kara lets out a long, sharp, 'Hah', the combination of a laugh and a shout of joy. She gets out of the jeep, and Lena follows. Kara points to the thing and manages to put together her first words since its appearance, tears in her eyes, "THAT'S A DINOSAUR!"

 

Lena nods, seeing it and drops the leaf. A dinosaur, clear as day, chewing the branches. Technically, it's a Brachiosaurus, a member of the sauropod family, but it's always been commonly called a Brontosaurus. It crunches down on the branch in its mouth, which is roughly thirty five feet up off the ground. At the end of its long, arching neck, it stares down at the people in the car with a pleasant, stupid gaze. It looked like it was smiling. Lena looks up at the sauropods in wonder. From observation, the dinosaurs are pretty light on their feet, a far cry from the sluggish, lumbering brutes humans would have expected. J'onn gets out of his jeep and comes back to join them. He looks like a proud parent showing off his kid. Alex looks at J'onn, amazed, and with an expression that is clearly admiration.

 

"You did it," Alex muttered, staring at the dinosaur, "Jesus Christ J'onn, you actually did it."

 

Kara and Lena continue walking, following the dinosaur carefully, "the movement!" Kara points out, pointing at the legs.

 

Lena nods in amazement, "the... the agility! You were right!"

 

In their amazement, Kara and Lena talk right over each other, with Kara saying, "Lena, we can tear up the rule book on cold-bloodedness. It doesn't apply, they're totally wrong! This is a warm-blooded creature. They're... they're totally wrong!" whilst Lena is speaking, saying "they were wrong. Case closed. This thing doesn't live in a swamp to support it's body weight for God's sake!"

 

Several of the top branches are suddenly torn away. Another sauropod, comes over and begins reaching for a branch high above their heads. He or she stands effortlessly on its hind legs. Kara and Lena watch in awe as J'onn walks over, looking up as well.

 

Kara is the first to speak to J'onn, "that thing's got a what, twenty-five? twenty-seven foot neck?"

 

J'onn nods, "The Brachiosaurus? Thirty."

 

Kara and Lena continue to walk side by side with the Brachiosaurus, Kara speaking, "and you're going to sit there and try to tell me it can push blood up a thirty-foot neck without a four-chambered heart and get around like that?! Like that!?" she looks at J'onn, "this is like a knockout punch for warm-bloodedness!"

 

J'onn, looking even more proud, adds, "we clocked the T-Rex at thirty miles an hour."

 

Lena snaps her head to him, "you've got a T-Rex?" she grabs Kara, "he's got a T-Rex! A T-Rex! He said he's-"

 

Kara cut her off, grabbing J'onn by the arms, "say again?"

 

J'onn smiles even more, "yes. We have a T-Rex!"

 

Kara begins to feel faint, placing a hand to her head as she looks at the Brachiosaurus. She sits down on the ground, Lena helping her down, saying "honey, put your head between your knees and breathe."

 

J'onn takes a deep breath, looking at them as he walks in front of them, looking out, "Doctor Danvers, my dear Doctor Luthor. Welcome... to Jurassic Park!"

 

They turn and look at the view again. It's beautiful sight, reminiscent of an African plain, filled with a variety of dinosaurs and present day birds. A whole herd of dinosaurs crosses the plain, maybe a hundred that they can see in a quick glance alone. Kara and Lena clutch each other tightly, watching with awe and tears in their eyes. 

 

"Lena," Kara speaks, "they're absolutely... they're moving in herds! They do move in herds!"

 

"We were right," Lena nods.

 

Kara looks at J'onn, whose still in front, watching the animals, "how'd you do it?"

 

J'onn, who doesn't look back, lifts his cane up and brings it down in quick succession, nodding, "I'll show you."

 

They don't notice Edge, who sort of faded into the background whilst the others were reacting. He was just staring, a look of absolute rapture on his face as he looks at the herds. He speaks in a voice that is hushed yet filled with awe and respect, "we are going to make a fortune with this place."

 

* * *

 

They reach the main visitors area, the centre of Jurassic Park. It's a large area with three main structures connected by walkways that are surrounded by two impressive fences, with the outer fence being almost twenty feet high. Outside the fences, the jungle has been encouraged to grow naturally, overflowing and filling with green, resembling the Amazon. The largest building is the visitor's centre, which is several stories tall. Its walls still skeletal and unfinished. There's a huge glass rotunda, a circular structure in the centre. The second building however is a private residence with smoked windows and its own perimeter fence. The third structure though, isn't really a building at all, but the cage seen earlier, filled with overgrown jungle foliage. The jeeps pull up in front of the visitor's centre, pulled along by a metal trail that drives the cars.

 

They walk to the visitors centre, and J'onn leads Kara, Lena, Edge and Alex up the stairs to the double doors, talking as they go. Two workers, standing on both sides of the doors, open them, allowing them to the building. The lobby of the unfinished visitor's centre is a large, tall room and houses its central feature.

 

A large skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex that is attacking a bellowing sauropod.

 

Workmen in the basket of a crane are still assembling said skeletons. A staircase climbs the far wall, twirling around the T-Rex into another wing. 

 

J'onn, who hasn't stopped talking, continues, "-the most advanced amusement park in the world, combining all the latest technologies. I'm not talking rides though. Everybody has rides, it's boring. A cliche. We, at Jurassic Park, have given birth to living biological attractions that are so astonishing, they'll capture the imagination of the entire planet!"

 

Kara stares up at the dinosaur skeleton and just shakes her head, and Lena catches her reaction, "so what are you thinking?"

 

"I'm thinking we're out of a job," Kara replies.

 

Alex pops up in between them, "don't you mean extinct?" she tries to joke. Kara and Lena move forward, and they don't notice Alex's face when it falls.

 

* * *

 

 

Having moved to somewhere else in the compound, the group takes their seats in the front row of a fifty seat auditorium, when J'onn asks them to take a seat. Edge sits behind them whilst J'onn walks over to the giant screen in front of them. Behind him, a huge image of himself beams down at him from the giant cinema screen. 

 

"Hello J'onn," screen J'onn greets, waving fakely at himself.

 

Real J'onn turns to the group, "say hello," he frowns, before reaching into his pocket, "oh, right. I've got lines."

 

Real J'onn scans them, looking for his place on the cue cards whilst screen J'onn continues without him, "fine, I guess! But how did I get here?"

 

Real J'onn manages to find his line, and gets in character, "uh... 'here, let me show you. First I'll need a drop of blood. Your blood!'"

 

The screen J'onn extends his finger and the real one reaches out, miming poking it with a needle, "ouch, J'onn! That hurt!" the screen J'onn complains

  
"Relax, J'onn," real J'onn acts, "it's all part of the miracle of cloning."

 

Whilst the two J'onns talk on and on, the screen image splits up, changing into two different J'onns, then to four to eight and so on. Kara and Lena are huddled together excitedly in the audience, when Alex huddles in too.

 

"Cloning from What?" Kara asks to Lena, "loy extraction has never recreated an intact DNA strand."

 

Alex nods from the back, "not without massive sequence gaps."

 

"Paleo DNA?" Lena adds, "from what source? Where do you get 100 million year old dinosaur blood?"

 

"Shh!" Edge snaps from the back.

 

The screen J'onn is joined by another figure, this one though is animated. Mrs DNA, a cartoon character that is a double helix strand of DNA. Mrs DNA jumps down onto screen J'onn's head and slides down his nose.

 

"Well hello there," real J'onn greets, "Mrs DNA, where did you come from?"

 

"From your blood," she replies. Kara notices that her voice sounds like the Gideon AI that STAR Labs had released, "just one drop of your blood contains billions of strands of DNA, the building blocks of life."

 

Screen J'onn disappears, and Mrs DNA takes over the show and begins talking to the audience.

 

"A DNA strand like me is a blueprint for building a living thing," Mrs DNA explains, "and sometimes animals that went extinct millions of years ago, like our dinosaurs, left their blueprints behind for us to find. We just had to know where to look," the screen image changes from animated to a nature video. It's an extreme close up of a mosquito, as it digs its fangs into an animal and begins to suck deep into the animal's flesh, its body pulsing and engorging with all the blood it's drinking, "a hundred million years ago, there were mosquitoes, just like today, and they fed on the blood of animals, which back then, was the dinosaurs."

 

The image races back to show the mosquito, perched on top of a giant animated Brachiosaurus. The image changes again, this time to another close up, only this one is of a tree branch which has golden sap oozing over the rough bark. Mrs DNA leaps onto the sap.

 

"Sometimes, after biting a dinosaur, the mosquito would land on the branch of a tree and would get stuck in the sap," she continues. On the screen, the engorged mosquito lands directly in the tree sap and gets stuck. So does Mrs DNA. Who tugs her legs, but they stay stuck, "WHOA!" Now, the tree sap flows over the both of them, and begins covering up Mrs DNA and the mosquito completely. Mrs DNA shouts from inside the sap, "after a long time, the tree sap hardens and becomes fossilised. Just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the mosquito inside."

 

The screen becomes translucent, but Mrs DNA stays on screen as a science laboratory becomes visible. The place is buzzing with activity. Everywhere, there are piles and piles of amber, all tagged and labelled whilst the scientists in white coats are examining them under the latest, top of the range microscopes. One scientist moves a very complicated drill apparatus next to the large chunk of amber that houses a fossilised mosquito inside and activates the drill, which begins to dig into the side of it. Mrs DNA escapes the amber through the drill hole as the scientist moves the amber over to a microscope and peers through the eyepiece.

 

Mrs DNA begins speaking again, watching the scientist, "this fossilised tree sap, which we call amber, has waited millions of years with the mosquito inside until the Jurassic Park scientists came along."

 

The screen changes, now showing what the scientist sees through the microscope as he examines the mosquito.

 

"Using extremely sophisticated techniques that even I struggle to understand, the scientists extract the preserved blood from the mosquito, and..." as she speaks, a long needle is inserted through the amber, directly into the thorax of the mosquito, and begins the extraction, "...there you have it. Dinosaur DNA!" Mrs DNA jumps down in front of all the DNA data, watching as it races by at Flash-like speed. She holds her head, dizzied by it, but continues, "a full DNA strand contains three billion genetic codes! If we were to look at screens like this once a second for eight hours a day, it would take you two years to look at the entire strand, it's that long. Also, since it's so old, it's full of holes. And that is where our geneticists take over. Our Thinking Machine computers, top of the range, and gene sequencers break down the strands in minutes."

 

One scientist in the back of the room has his arms encased in two long rubber tubes, which hold strong rubber gloves. He's strapped into the apparatus, staring into a complex headpiece and moving his arms gently almost like Tai Chi movements.

 

"Virtual Reality displays show our geneticists the gaps in the DNA sequence, and since most animal DNA is ninety percent identical, we use the complete DNA of a frog to fill in the holes and complete the code," Mrs DNA explains.

 

On the screen, the visitors can see an actual DNA strand, but is missing a large chunk in the centre, where the vital information is missing. Mrs DNA leaps into the frame, her animated arms carrying a butch of letters in one hand. She puts them into the gap, shoving them into place.

 

"Once this process is done, it allows us to create a real baby dinosaur," Mrs DNA finishes, dusting off her armless hands.

 

The scientists now look at each other, not sure of how to continue. J'onn, who has now took a seat, jumps in surprise, "oh. All this has some dramatic music by the way. A march or something. It's not written yet. Anyway, the tour moves on," J'onn throws a switch and safety bars appear out of nowhere from the floor, dropping over their seats when they click into place, "for your own safety."

 

The row of seats make a loud clunking noise as they begin to slide to the side. The people jumping in surprise as the wall slides up and they leave the room. The row of seats moves slowly past a a large double panned glass window beneath a large sign that reads "GENETICS/FERTILISATION/HATCHERY." Inside, the technicians are at work at the microscopes. In the back is a section, the area is entirely lit by blue ultraviolet lights.

 

Mrs DNA's voice booms through the speakers, making them all jump, besides J'onn, "our fertilisation department is where the dinosaur DNA takes the place of the DNA in unfertilised emu or ostrich egg and then it's on to the nursery, where we welcome the dinosaurs back into the world."

 

Edge, sitting at the back, has a wondrous grin on his face as he watches and listens to everything that happens, loving every minute of it.

 

"This is overwhelming, J'onn," he speaks. J'onn turns to face him. Pointing, Edge asks, "are these characters animatronics too?"

 

"No, we don't have any animatronics here," J'onn shakes his head, "these... these are the real miracle workers of Jurassic Park."

 

Kara, Lena and Alex are clearly frustrated, trying to lean forward but straining against the safety bars, aiming for a better look. The seats keep going.

 

"Wait a minute!" Kara practically yells, "how do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?!"

 

Lena also speaks, asking, "can't we see the unfertilised host eggs?"

 

J'onn waves them off, replying, "shortly."

 

Mrs DNA returns, "our control room contains some of the most sophisticated automations ever attempted in..."

 

But Kara isn't listening. Instead, she and Lena are straining to look back into the labs, but the seats move past yet again, showing no intention of slowing down or stopping.

 

"Can't you stop these things?" Kara asks.

 

"Sorry," J'onn chuckles, "but it's kind of a ride."

 

Turning to Lena, Kara mutters, "lets get out of here!"

 

The two of them team up on the safety bars. Kara shoves the rail with her back, pushing with one foot and Lena does the same. Alex notices and begins to do the same. The three of them stand up and head for the door of the hatchery. Morgan Edge watches with annoyance, pointing to them like a child ratting on another child.

 

"Hey! You can't do that!" They ignore him, "can they do that?"

 

They reach the door to the hatchery and Kara tries to shove it open, smacking it with her shoulder, but she just thuds into it. She tries to rattle the handle, but the door won't budge as it's on a security keycard system. J'onn steps up and takes his glasses off, "relax, Edge, relax. They're scientists, They have the right to be curious," he walks to the trio and steps up to the code box, "it's a retinal scanner," he pushes various code numbers and the door opens. He steps aside, and the group eagerly goes up the stairs.

 

Kara runs up the stairs at full speed whilst Alex and Lena eagerly try to get a look at the lab. J'onn and Edge come up and join Kara at the door whilst Edge complains, "J'onn, we... what I'm just saying..."

 

J'onn sighs in annoyance, "again, please relax Morgan, relax. They're scientists. They're going to be curious." J'onn reaches the door when Kara is in the process of trying to pry it open, "Doctor Danvers, just a minute, just a minute," he urges but Kara still tries, "just a moment," he pushes the code in and the door opens, "remember what Samuel Johnson said? 'Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect!' Right! Come along."

 

They enter the room. The hatchery is a vast, open room, bathed in infrared light, filled with long tables that run the entire length of the place. They are all covered with eggs, their pale outlines obscured by a hissing mist that's fills the room. J'onn takes off his hat and hands it one of the technicians. The main technician, a man in his mid thirties with a name tag that reads 'M. Lord' walks to the group.

 

"Good day Max," J'onn greets, shaking the man's hand.

 

"Good day sir," Max replies, nodding at the group.

 

Kara goes to one of the round tables, open with various eggs under a strong light as she observes them with fascination. One of the eggs makes strong, jerky movements when a robotic arm steadies the shell, "oh Rao! Look!" she watches the process.

 

J'onn, Lena and Alex join her as does Maxwell Lord, "ah, perfect timing! I'd hoped they'd hatch before I had to go to the boat," Lord speaks.

 

J'onn taps him on the arm, "Maxwell, why didn't you tell me? You know I insist on being here when they're born."

 

J'onn begins to put on a pair of plastic gloves when the egg begins to crack. The robotic arm moves away as a newborn dinosaur tries to get out. The only part of it's body that is sticking out of the shell is it's head. J'onn reaches down and carefully breaks away egg fragments, helping the baby out of it's shell.

 

"Come on then," J'onn urges, "out you come," he looks up at Kara, "they imprint on the first living creature they come in contact with," he explains, "that helps them to trust me. I've been present for the birth of every animal on this island. Just look at that."

 

"Surely not the ones that have been born in the wild," Alex comments, watching his actions.

 

"Actually, they can't breed in the wild. Population control is one of our security precautions here," Maxwell replies, "there is no unauthorised breeding in Jurassic Park."

 

Kara and Lena continue watching the birth, soft smiles on their faces.

 

"How do you know they can't breed?" Alex asks.

 

"Because every dinosaur on this island is female," Maxwell explains, "We designed them that way."

 

The dinosaur is now free from it's shell. J'onn sets in the incubator carefully next to its shell. Kara reaches and picks the baby up, holding it in the palm of her hand under the incubator's heat light, "blood temperature feels like high eighties," Kara comments.

 

"Ninety-one," Maxwell informs.

 

Kara then picks up the large, broken shell, examining it until the robotic arm snatches it back out of her hand, putting it down, "homoeothermic? It holds that temperature?" she turns to Lord, "incredible."

 

Alex, however, is looking at J'onn, clearly still sceptical, "but again, how do you know they're all female? Does someone go into the park and lift up the dinosaurs' skirts?"

 

"We control their chromosomes," Maxwell replies, "it's not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway. It takes an extra hormone at the right developmental stage to create a male, and we simply deny them that."

 

"Your silence intrigues me Alex," J'onn comments.

 

"I'm sorry J'onn, it's just... The kind of control you're attempting is not possible," Alex starts, her chaotician side coming out, "if there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers. Painfully and maybe even dangerously."

 

The all listen, clearly impressed.

 

Kara, ignoring the others, picks up the baby dinosaur again, and holds it on the palm of her hand under the incubator's heat light. She spreads the tiny animal out on the back of her hand and delicately runs her finger over its tail, counting the vertebrae. A look of puzzled recognition crosses her face.

 

"You're implying that a group composed entirely of females will breed?" Maxwell asks, an annoyed tone in his voice at the woman who dares to challenge his work.

 

"No, I'm simply stating that life... life finds a way," Alex replies.

 

"She's right," Lena cuts in, "I find it exciting, I won't deny that, what you're doing here. But one of the great things about life is that you can't control it. Life will always find a way."

 

"She's right," Alex nods, "it breaks through."

 

"When people try to control things that are out of their power. It's..."

 

"Anti-nature," Kara comments briefly, barely listening.

 

"Anti-nature," Lena agrees.

 

Kara continues to barely notice, as she's still obsessed with the infant dinosaur, measuring it, weighing it on a nearby lab bench. She stops, as a strange look appears on her face. She knows what this animal is, she's sure of it... but it can't be, "what species is this?" she asks, dreading the answer.

 

"That one..." Maxwell reads his notes, "uh... it's a Velociraptor."

 

Kara and Lena turn slowly and look at each other, then turning to look at J'onn, astonished.

  
"You bred raptors?"

 

They both look back at the baby, which stares at them in wonder with confusement as they watch it warily before placing it back on the birthing table, leaving the soon to be predator alone.


	3. That Is One Big Pile Of Shit

Kara literally charges across the park compound, blazing fire in her eyes as she storms ahead of Lena, Alex and Edge. J'onn is rushing at the back, his cane digging into the gravel as he struggles to keep up, panting out of breath, "Doctor Danvers? Doctor Danvers?" he pants, waving his arm about, "we... we planned to show you the raptors later actually.  After lunch, if you're hungry."

 

But Kara completely ignores his statement, instead, she stops abruptly in front of the large caged building. The Velociraptor pen. it's the heavily fortified building that Joffrey, the worker, was murdered in during the incident that caused the visit. Kara notices everything about the building, including the San Quentin like towers at both ends. Kara stands right up against the fence, her eyes wide as she leans over, staring into the foliage, dying for a glimpse of the predators she's spent her life examining. J'onn manages to catch up, slightly out of breath as he presses his palms to his kneecaps, taking deep breaths. 

 

"Doctor Danvers," he pants, "as I was saying. We've laid out lunch for you and the other guests for before you head out into the park. Alejandro, our gourmet chef-"

 

Kara cuts him off, waving her hand dismissively as she watches the paddock, "what are they doing?"

 

As they all watch, a giant crane begins to lower something large down into the middle of the jungle like paddock inside the pen. Something very large. It's a cow. The poor thing looks disconcerted as hell, looking around helplessly as it looks at Kara, almost like it's asking her to help it. It's helpless in its harness, flailing its legs about in the air. Kara watches it sympathetically, trying to avoid looking it in the eyes.

 

Kara always had a soft spot for defenseless animals.

 

"Feeding them. Believe me, this is the one thing in this park I avoid. I can't stand seeing this," J'onn replies, looking uncomfortable as the cow disappears from view. He tries to start walking back, hoping Kara will follow, "Alejandro is preparing a meal for us. He cooked meals specifically for each of you, I believe you have a large number of potstickers. Shall we?"

 

Kara doesn't comply, instead, she goes up to the viewing deck slowly. The others following, staring as the poor cow disappears into the shroud of foliage. The line from the crane hangs for a moment. A tense moment. The jungle seems to grow very quiet, too quiet for anyone's liking as they all stare at the motionless crane line. It jerks suddenly, like a fishing pole that's finally getting a nibble. There's a pause before a frenzy, as the line begins to jerk, moving around in every possible way. The jungle plants sway and snap apart from the frantic activity within. There is a mixture of sounds from within, consisting of growling, jaws snapping and wet crunches as the cow is literally torn to pieces and. It almost makes it worse that they can't see anything of what's going on inside. J'onn winces at every noise. Suddenly, it's quiet again. The line jerks a more few times as the raptors grab any remaining flesh. Then it stops. Slowly, the sound of the jungle starts up again, like a radio on mute.

 

"Fascinating animals," J'onn mutters, "fascinating."

 

"That was disgusting," Lena gulps, looking sick.

 

"Give it time," J'onn replies, "they'll draw out the T-Rex. I guarantee it."

 

"I want to see them," Kara claims, "can we get closer?"

 

Lena steps up to her girlfriend, turning her around by the arms, "Kara. These aren't bones anymore. These are the real deal."

 

"We're... we're still perfecting a viewing system," J'onn points out, "the raptors seem to be a bit resistant to the integration into a park setting."

 

A voice suddenly comes from behind J'onn, and only then does Kara notice the man standing behind them. It's James Olsen, the head of animal control at the park. The man who failed to save Joffrey. He had a grim face. He was wearing classic safari clothes, completed with a fedora, "they should all be destroyed!" He walks over to them, removing his hat.

 

"James. James 'Jimmy' Olsen," J'onn introduces, "my game warden from Kenya. Bit of an alarmist, I'm afraid but he's dealt with the raptors more than anyone else."

 

"Kara Danvers," Kara greeted, extending her hand out James, "tell me. What kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth rate?"

 

"They're lethal at eight months," James replies, sensing Kara's curiosity, "and I do mean lethal. I've hunted most things that can hunt you... But the way these things move-"

 

"Fast or biped?" Kara cuts in.

 

"Cheetah speed," James answers, "fifty, maybe sixty miles per hour if they ever got out in the open. And they're amazing jumpers."

 

"Yes, yes, yes, which is why we take extreme precautions. They viewing area below us will have eight-inch tempered glass set in reinforced steel frames to-" J'onn tries to join in, but Kara cuts him off, yet again.

 

"Do they show intelligence? With the brain cavity like theirs we assumed-"

 

James nods, "they show extreme intelligence, even problem solving. Especially the alpha. We bred eight originally but when she came in, she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others," James explains, "that one... when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out. She's the reason we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came."

 

"But the fences are electrified right?" Lena joins in.

 

"They are," James nods, "but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses. Systematically," he pauses, staring at Kara, "they remembered."

 

Behind them, the crane suddenly turns on, coming back to life and it begins raising the cable back up out of the raptor paddock. The guests all turn and stare as the end portion of the cable becomes visible. The cow has been completely dragged away, leaving only the tattered, bloody harness that is hanging by literal threads.

 

J'onn claps his hands together excitedly, "so... who's hungry?"

 

* * *

 

J'onn, Kara, Lena, Alex and Edge are all eating lunch at a long, oval like table in the visitor's centre's restaurant. There is a large buffet table with two waiters ready to serve them. The room they are eating in is darkened, filled only by the light of the projections on the televisions whilst J'onn is showing slides of various scenes all around them. J'onn's own recorded voice describes all of the current and future features of the park, with images to show off these concepts flash across the screens, showing off artists renderings of the park.

 

The real J'onn turns and speaks over the narration, "none of these attractions have been finished yet," he explains, "the park will open with the basic tour you're about to take, and then other rides will come on line after six or twelve months, depending on the construction. Absolutely spectacular designs. Spared no expense."

 

More slides continue to slide past. A series of graphs dealing with profits, attendance and other fiscal projections comes on screen. Morgan Edge, who has suddenly become increasingly friendly with J'onn, even giddily so, is grinning from ear to ear, "and we can charge anything we want! Two thousand a day? Ten thousand a day? People will pay it! And then there's the merchandising of cours-"

 

J'onn cuts him off, "Morgan, this park was and will not be built to carter only to the super rich and famous. Everyone from around the world has got a right to enjoy these animals and attractions."

 

"Sure, they will. They will," Edge laughs dismissively, "we'll have a... coupon day or something."

 

Kara looks down at the plate she's eating from. It's in the shape of the island itself. She looks at her drinking cup, which has got a large T-Rex on it and a splashy, fancy Jurassic Park logo on the side. There are a stack of folded amusement park style maps on the table in front of the visitors, showing off the different attractions. She picks one up and reads the map. Boldly, across the top of the cover, it reads "Fly United to Jurassic Park!"

 

Recorded J'onn is still speaking in the background, "...from combined revenue streams for all three planned parks. It should reach eight to nine billion dollars a year-"

 

Real J'onn turns back to Edge, gesturing to the many screens, "that's conservative, of course. There's no reason to speculate wildly."

 

"I've never had the pleasure of being a rich man," Edge jokes, "is it nice? I hear it's nice?"

 

Alex Danvers, who was been watching the screens and J'onn with Edge with outright contempt snorts, literally snorts, as if she's finally had enough, "you know? The lack of humility before the nature that's been displayed here staggers me."

 

They all turn and look at her, including Kara.

 

"Thank you, Doctor Danvers," Edge chuckles mockingly, "but I think things are a little different than you and I feared."

 

Alex laughs, "yes, I know. They're a lot worse actually."

 

Edge tries to cut in, "wait a second. We were invited to this island to evaluate the safety conditions of the park, stuff like the physical containment. Your theories that all simple systems have some kind of complex behaviour, that animals in a zoo environment will eventually begin to behave in an unpredictable fashion have nothing to do with that evaluation," Edge is clearly annoyed now, "this is not some existential furlough. This is an on-site inspection. You are a doctor, aren't you? Do your job. You are invalidating your own assessment. I'm sorry, J'onn-"

 

J'onn stops him, raising his hand but never looking away from Alex, "Alright Morgan, alright, but just let her talk. I want to hear all viewpoints. I truly do."

 

Alex shifts to face J'onn, making herself comfortable, "don't you see the danger, J'onn, inherent in what you're doing here?" she asks, "genetic power is the most awesome force that has ever been seen on this planet but you wield it like a child who's found their dad's gun."

 

Edge tries to but in, "If I may Doctor Danvers, it is hardly appropriate to start hurling-" but Alex stops him.

 

Alex continues, ignoring Edge's complaints, "the problem with the scientific power that you've used is that it didn't require any discipline to attain it," she reasons, "you read what others have done and you then took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any of the responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you knew what you had, you patented it," she slams her palm on the table, "packages it," slams again, "slapped in on a plastic lunch box," again, "and now you want to sell it."

 

"You don't give us our due credit Alex," J'onn argues, "our scientists have done things no one could ever do before."

 

Alex doesn't back down, "but that's the thing J'onn. Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should," she argues, "science can create pesticides but it can't tell us not to use them. Science can make a nuclear reactor but it can't tell us not to build it."

 

J'onn looks annoyed now, his happy demeanour gone, "but this is nature we're talking about!" he retorts, "why not give an extinct species a second chance? I mean..." he snaps his fingers as he looks for an example, "condors. The Condors are on the verge of extinction. If I'd created a flock of them on the island, you wouldn't be saying any of this! Hell, you wouldn't have anything to say at all!"

 

Alex waves her finger in a 'no-no' way, "hold on, hold on. This isn't a species that was obliterated by deforestation or the building of a dam J'onn. Dinosaurs had their shot. Nature selected them for extinction."

 

J'onn chuckles humorlessly, shaking his head, "you know Alex? I don't understand this Luddite attitude, especially from a scientist like yourself. How could we stand in the light of discovery and not act?"

 

Alex chuckles this time. Kara and Lena watch in avid fascination. Alex continues, "there's nothing that great about discovery. Tell me. What's so great about discovery? It's a violent, penetrative act that scars whatever it explores," she pauses, "let me tell you J'onn. What you call discovery... I call the rape of the natural world."

 

Edge finally cuts in, looking at both Kara and Lena, "okay... please. Let's hear something from the others. Doctor Danvers? Doctor Luthor?"

 

Lena looks at Kara for a moment, who watches her with curiosity before replying, "the question is... How much can you know about an extinct ecosystem? And therefore, how could you assume you can control it?" she asks, "you have plants right here in this building for example, that are literally poisonous," she speaks to them like children, "you didn't pick them because of what they are. You picked them because they look pretty. But these are aggressive living things. Living, sentient creatures that have no idea what century they're living in and believe me J'onn. They will defend themselves, and violently, if necessary."

 

Exasperated, J'onn snaps his head, turning to Kara, who still looks shell-shocked from everything she's seen, "Doctor Danvers. If there's one person who can appreciate all of this... What I am trying to do?"

 

But Kara speaks quietly, almost inaudible as she's clearly, really thrown by all of this, "I feel... Elated and... Frightened and..." she pauses, starting over, "the world has just changed so radically recently and we're all running to catch up," she explains, "I don't want to jump to any conclusions, I truly don't... But look..." she leans forward, a look of true concern on her face as she speaks, "dinosaurs and men... Two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we have the faintest idea of what to expect?"

 

J'onn laughs, "I don't believe it. I expected you to come down here and defend me from these lawyers and the only one I've got on my side _is_ the bloodsucking lawyer!"

 

Edge frowns, letting out a confused "thank you?"

 

Before J'onn can continue, a waiter walks up to J'onn, leaning down and whispering into his ear. 

 

J'onn immediately brightens, "ah ha. They're here."

 

Kara frowns. They were told they were the only visitors, "who?"

 

* * *

 

J'onn, Kara, Lena, Alex and Edge walk out of the restaurant, heading into the lobby of the visitor's centre. They head down the stairs, passing the skeletons of the dinosaurs again, "you four are going to have a little company out in the park," J'onn reveals, "spend a little time with our target audience. Maybe they'll help you get into the spirit of this place."

 

Kara frowns at Lena, "what does he mean by 'target audience'?"

 

J'onn turns towards the doors of the centre, suddenly throwing his arms out expansively in a welcoming manner, bellowing at the top of his lungs, "KIDS!"

 

Two kids standing in the doorway to the centre break into a broad smiles. Winn, the boy, is about nine years old whilst Lucy, his sister, looks around twelve. They sprint at J'onn, chanting "Grandpa!" at the top of their lungs. They race across the lobby and into J'onn's arms, knocking him over on the steps.

 

Lucy speaks first, "we missed you."

 

"Thanks for the presents," Winn adds.

  
Lucy nods, "yeah! We love the presents."

 

J'onn laughs, "you must be careful with me. Did you like the helicopter?"

 

Winn nods excitedly, "it was great! It drops! We were dropping!"

 

J'onn notices everyone's confused glances, turning to the group, "everyone, I'd like you to meet Winn and Lucy. They are my daughters children. My Grandchildren," he sees Edge's even more confused expression, mouthing "adopted."

 

Kara smiles then at the interaction.

 

* * *

 

Two modified Ford Explorers leap up out of an underground garage beneath the visitor's centre. They move quietly, with a faint electronic hum as they drive down the path, straddling a slightly buried rail that lies in the the middle of the road. They pull to a stop where the group is gathered, and the faint click of the doors unlocking can be heard. Lena is off to the side with Lucy, introducing herself warmly whilst J'onn is with Kara, Alex and Morgan Edge, who were wary of kids joining the group.

 

J'onn sighs, "have a heart, please. My daughter... their mother, is going through a divorce and they needed the diversion."

 

Edge, who's focus was on the cars more than the discussion, frowned, "hey... where's the breaks?"

 

J'onn tears his gaze from Kara and Alex to Edge, "brakes? No brakes. They're electric cars, guided by this track in the roadway. Totally non-polluting. Top of the line."

 

Winn, who is leaning over inside one of the cars, is checking out the computer screen in the middle of the dashboard, "it's an interactive CD-ROM," he points out, "look, see... You just touch the right part of the screen and it talks about whatever you want it to."

 

J'onn chuckles at his grandson, "spared no expense. Have fun. I'll be watching you from back in control," he turns to Lena, "come along, my dear. You'll ride in the second car. I can promise you you'll have a really wonderful time."

 

Lena smiles, "thank you. I suppose we'll see you later."

 

J'onn turns and heads back towards the visitor's centre.

 

Alex faces Kara, and eagerly says, "I'll ride with you and Lena."

 

She turns and walks over to Lena, rushing over. Kara frowns and sighs in frustration, clearly not liking this one bit. She moves to follow, but Winn cuts her off, and stares up at her, wide-eyed.

 

"I read your book," Winn points out.

 

Kara smiles brightly, "oh thank you! That's great."

 

Kara begins to head towards her car, but Winn follows behind, "so do you really think dinosaurs turned into birds? And that's where all the dinosaurs went?"

 

Kara watches Alex and walks to the front car instead, opening the rear door and climbing in, again, with Winn following, "well, uh, a few species... May have evolved, uh... along those lines... yeah."

 

A mechanical voice suddenly speaks from inside the vehicle, saying "'two to four passengers to a car, please. Children under ten must be accompanied by an adult.'"

 

Kara climbs out, Winn still asking questions as he follows her out.

 

"Because they sure don't look like birds to me," Winn points out, "I heard a meteor hit the Earth and made this one hundred mile crater someplace down in Mexico-"

 

"Listen... Winn?"

 

Winn nods.

 

"Okay, Winn? Which car are you planning on going in?" she asks sweetly.

 

Winn smiles, "whichever one you are."

 

Kara has to stop her smile from leaving her face. She goes to the front car again, opening the rear door and holding it for Winn, who climbs in the back seat, rattling on and on.

 

"Then I head about this thing in OMNI?" he continues, "about the meteor making all this heat that made a bunch of diamond dust? And that changed the weather and they died because of the weather? Then my teacher told me about this other book by a guy named Bakker? And he said the dinosaurs died of a bunch of diseases-"

 

SLAM! Kara shuts the door on Tim. She sighs, and turns, going to head for the rear vehicle but she bumps right into Lucy, who points behind her to Lena, "she said I should ride with you because it would be good for you."

 

Kara looks over her at Lena, with a sad expression on her face, whilst Lena grins cheekily into her hand, not looking at Kara.

 

"Lena is a deeply neurotic woman," Kara mutters before smiling at Lucy.

 

* * *

 

J'onn enters the Jurassic Park control room, greeting the workers. The control room looks like the mission control for a space launch, with several computer terminals and dozens of video screens that are displaying images of various dinosaurs, taken from all over the park. There's a large glass map of the island at the front of the room that is lit up like a Christmas tree with various coloured lights, each one with a number and identification code next to it. The place is unfinished, with unattached cables, construction materials, and ladders all scattered about the room. The mood among the half dozen technicians present is chaotic and messy as they rush around with last minute adjustments. James Olsen whisks in through the double doors with J'onn right behind him. They go straight to the main console, where Ray Arnold, a fortyish, chronic worrier and smoker, is seated.

 

James is the first to speak, "National Weather Service is tracking a tropical storm about seventy-five miles west of us."

 

J'onn sighs and looks over Arnold's shoulder, commenting, "why didn't I build in Orlando?"

 

"I'll keep an eye on it," Ray reassures, "maybe it'll swing south like the last one."

 

J'onn nods, taking a deep breath, "okay... Ray. Start the tour programme."

 

Ray nods, punching a few buttons on the console, announcing, "hold on to your butts!"

 

* * *

 

With a loud thunk, the Explorers start to move, driving forward along the electrical pathway. Edge, Winn and Lucy are in the front vehicle whilst Kara, Lena and Alex are sitting in the rear truck. They drive slowly, passing through two enormous, primitive, wooden gates with torches blazing on either side. The sign 'JURASSIC PARK' scrawled along the top. In the rear truck, the Explorer's speakers begin making noise, starting with the fanfare of trumpets and the interior video screen flashes "Welcome to Jurassic Park." A familiar voice comes over the speaker.

 

"Welcome to Jurassic Park," the familiar voice of the Gideon AI used for Mrs DNA greets, "you are now entering the lost world of the prehistoric past, a world filled with creatures long gone from the face of the Earth, which you are privileged to see for the first time."

 

* * *

 

Back at the control room, J'onn is watching everything on the monitor. His grandchildren are clearly enjoying the park themselves, "by the way, we almost got James Earl Jones or even Richard Kiley, but we chose to use the Gideon AI, much more friendly. We spared no expense."

 

* * *

 

Back in the park, the fences that are retaining the walls are covered with greenery and lots of overgrown foliage, to heighten the illusion of moving through a jungle. In the front car, Edge speaks, "the accident took place in a restricted area. It would not have been available to the public access, so how can the safety of the public be called into question?"

 

The cars come to the top of a low rise, where a break in the foliage gives them a view down a sloping field that is broken apart by a river. The tour voice continues, "to the right, you will see a herd of the first dinosaurs on our tour, called Dilophosauruses." In the front car, Winn and Lucy practically slam their faces into the glass windows, hoping to get a good look at the dinosaur.

 

Edge, who is still talking and not paying attention, says, "the safety. That's the problem I had to answer."

 

Winn and Lucy both speak at the same time. Lucy going "shh" to Edge, whilst Winn complains, "I can't see!"

 

Edge sighs, "what are we looking for?" he asks the kids.

 

Winn faces him excitedly, "Dilophosaurus."

 

Back in the rear car, Kara is reading the map she took from the restaurant. Lena, who was listening to the voice, is the first to react, exclaiming "oh shit!"

 

Kara drops the map and Alex breaks out of her day dreaming as the three of them press up against the windows. Down near the river bank, there are a lot of beautiful plants, as far as the eye can see, but there is no sign of a herd of anything. The tour voice continues anyway, "one of the earliest carnivores, we now know Dilophosauruses are actually poisonous, spitting their venom at its prey. This can cause blindness and eventually paralysis, allowing the carnivore to eat at its leisure. This makes the Dilophosaurus a beautiful, but deadly addition to Jurassic Park."

 

As some corny scary music begins to play, Kara, Lena and Alex sit back in their seats, disappointed as Kara mutters "damn." The cars move on down the pathway. As they roll past, the headlights turn on, despite the daytime. 

 

* * *

 

Back at the control room, Ray Arnold watches his computer screen and the video monitors at the same time, keeping an eye on the cars as they move through the park. J'onn is looming, hovering over his shoulder.

 

"Vehicle headlights are on and don't respond," Ray reveals, "those shouldn't be running off the car batteries," he signs and reaches for a clipboard hanging next to his chair, jotting the information down, "item one fifty-one on today's glitch list. We've got all the problems of a major theme park and a major zoo and the computer's not even on its feet yet."

  
J'onn sighs loudly, shaking his head as he turns to the technician to his right, who still has his back to them as he watches a Costa Rican game show on one of the monitors whilst drinking a can of Pepsi, "Mxy, our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers?"

 

The technician turns around in his chair and extends his arms in a Christ-like pose, almost evilly. The technician is Mxyzptlik, the man who accepted the suitcase full of cash in San Jose, unknownst to the staff. He begins complaining, "one, please call me by my name, which is Mxyzptlik, not Mxy. Two, I am totally unappreciated in my time. We can run the whole damn park from this room with minimal staff for up to three days. You think that kind of automation is easy? Or cheap? You know anybody who can network eight connection machines and debug two million lines of code for what I bid this job? Because I'd sure as hell like to see them try."

 

J'onn rubs his eyes, "I'm sorry about your financial problems, I really am. But they're just that. Your problems."

 

Mxyzptlik rolls his eyes like a child, "you're right J'onn. You're right. Everything's my problem."

 

J'onn snaps, "I will not get into another financial debate with you Mxyzptlik. I really won't!"

 

"I don't think there's been any debate," Mxyzptlik retorts, "there's no debate... My mistakes..."

 

"I don't blame people for their mistakes Mxyzptlik," J'onn adds, "but I do ask that they pay for them."

 

"Thanks dad," Mxyzptlik mutters as he turns back to the monitors.

 

Ray speaks up from across the room, "Mxyzptlik. The headlights!?"

 

Mxyzptlik sighs again, turning away from the game show, "I'll debug the tour program when they get back. Okay?" he groans, "it'll eat a lot of computer cycles. Parts of the system may go down for a while. Don't blame me. If I am playing...losing memory..."

 

James, who has been standing at the back of the room speaks up, "quiet, all of you! They're coming to the Tyrannosaurus paddock."

 

* * *

 

The two Explorers are driving along a high ridge, coming to a stop at the edge of the large, open plain that is separated from the road by a fifteen-foot fence, clearly marked with "DANGER!" signs, added with an ominous-looking electrical post. Winn, Lucy and Edge are pressed forward against the windows, eyes wide, waiting for the star of the show.

 

In the rear car, the voice of the radio drones on, but Kara, Lena and Alex aren't even listening anymore, dying of anticipation as the voice says, "the mighty Tyrannosaurus arose late in the dinosaur history. Dinosaurs ruled the earth for hundred and fifty million years, but it wasn't until the last-"

 

Kara cuts in, groaning, "will you turn that thing off please?"

 

Lena flips a switch and the voice snaps off. They wait in silence, except for Alex, who is looking at the ceiling as she thinks aloud, "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs."

 

Lena finishes for her, "dinosaurs eat man and woman inherits the Earth."

 

Suddenly, Ray's voice speaks through the intercom, saying, "hold on. We'll try to tempt the Rex."

 

In the Tyrannosaurus paddock, there's a low humming sound as out in the middle of the field, a small cage rises up into view, lifted on hydraulics from underground. The cage bars slide down, leaving the cage's occupant standing alone in the middle of the field, confused. It's a goat, with one leg chained to a stake. It looks around, confused as it bleats plaintively, almost like it knows what's going to happen.

 

Back in the front car, the kids watch this. Lucy and Winn look at the goat, both with widely different reactions.

 

Lucy faces Edge, asking, "what's going to happen to the goat? He's going to eat the goat?!"

 

Edge faces Lucy, before replying with "what's the matter kid? You never had lamb chops?"

 

Lucy looks affronted by his comment, before proudly replying with, "I happen to be a vegetarian."

 

Back in the rear car, Kara shakes her head, smiling to herself, "the T-Rex doesn't want to be fed. He wants to hunt. You can't just suppress sixty-five million years of gut instinct."

 

In the paddock, the goat continues to wait. And it waits. From the Explorers, six faces watch it expectantly, like kids at a zoo. The goat tugs on its chain as it walks back and forth, nervously. It bleats again. From both cars, no one can tear their eyes away. Waiting for something. Anything.

 

The goat sits down.

 

Everyone sits back, yet again, disappointed as the cars pull forward again to continue the boring tour. Alex leans forward towards the dashboard camera.

 

"Now eventually, you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?" she asks, tapping the camera with her finger, even breathing onto it at one point, expecting it to reply.

 

* * *

 

Back in the control room, J'onn rubs his eyes, muttering a low, "I really hate that woman."

 

* * *

 

Back in the rear car, Kara gets into her seat, leaving Alex behind Lena. She longingly looks out of the opposite window, whilst Alex engages in conversation with Lena, "you see? The Tyrannosaur doesn't obey set patterns or park schedules. It's the essence of Chaos."

Lena frowns, "I'm still not clear on this chaos."

 

"It simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems," Alex replies, "it's only principle is the Butterfly Effect, where a butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park you get rain instead of sunshine."

 

Lena's expression doesn't change.

 

Whilst they talk, Kara is looking out of the opposite window. She frowns as she sees movement, right at the far end of a field. She sits bolt upright, trying to get a better look.

 

Alex continues, "here. Could you pass me your water?" when she does so, Alex dips her finger into the glass of water, gesturing to Lena's hand, who gives it to her, "make like hieroglyphics. Now watch the way the drop of water falls on your hand," she flicks her fingers and a drop falls on the back of Lena's hand, "ready? Freeze your hand. Now I'm going to do the same thing from the exact same place. Which way will the drop roll? Over which finger? Or down your thumb? Or to the other side?"

 

Lena shrugs, "the same way?"

 

Alex flicks another drop, and it rolls in the opposite direction to the first, "it changed. Why?" Lena shrugs, "because... and here is the principle of tiny variations... the orientations of the hairs-"

  
Lena wants to ask Kara to listen, but doesn't want to make her uncomfortable, so she keeps quiet.

 

Alex doesn't stop, "...on your hand, the amount of blood distending in your vessels, imperfections in the skin-"

  
"imperfections?"

 

Alex replies, "-but they never repeat, and vastly affect the outcome. That's what."

 

Lena nods in understanding, "unpredictability."

 

"And even if we haven't seen it yet, I'm quite sure it's going on in this park right now," Alex adds, knowing J'onn heard it.

 

There's definitely something out in that field, and Kara has to see it. She jerks on the door handle, opening her door a few inches. She looks outside towards the freedom, looking around to see if anybody was watching her.

 

Alex hasn't stopped, "life's a lot like that, I think. You meet someone by chance that you'll never meet again and the course of your whole future changes. It's dynamic... it's exciting I think."

 

Kara throws the door open and bolts out of the moving car.

 

"There, there see?! I'm right again!" Alex exclaims, before realising what had happened, "it... it wasn't because of me? Was it? Did I talk too much?"

 

"Kara?" Lena speaks, confusedly.

 

"I suppose no one could've predicted that Kara would suddenly jump out of a moving vehicle," Alex mutters to herself.

 

Lena jumps out too, yelling, "Kara?"

 

Alex watches in surprise, letting out a confused "and there's another example. Here I am now, by myself, talking to myself... What the hell am I doing here? I'm the only one who knows what's going on."

 

* * *

 

Back in the control room, J'onn, James and Arnold all stare at the video monitor incredulously as everyone now storms out of the cars and follows Kara down the hill. The cars don't stop, continuing to roll on slowly, empty, with their doors hanging open.

 

"Uh... Mr J'onzz?" Ray speaks up.

  
"Stop the program."

 

"There you are! How many times did I tell you we needed locking mechanisms on the vehicle doors?" James asks.

 

Across the room, Mxyzptlik sneaks a peek at his video monitor. It shows an image of the steel door, plainly marked 'EMBRYONIC COLD STORAGE. RESTRICTED!'. He looks to another monitor, which is labelled 'EAST DOCK'. The monitor shows a supply ship, moored at the dock with a man standing on the pier. Its cargo is being uploaded and a large group of WORKERS is filling aboard as he watches. Mxyzptlik has something on the counter, where no one can see it. 

 

It's a can of shaving cream.

 

* * *

 

Kara, Lena, Edge and the kids are out in the open field, heading towards a small gathering of trees in the distance. For the first time, they notice the sky is darker, which is rather early in the day. Winn follows Kara's footsteps like a dog, so excited he can hardly keep his feet on the ground. He decides to continue his conversation, "so like I was saying, there's this other book by a guy named Bakker? And he said dinosaurs died of a bunch of diseases? He definitely didn't say they turned into birds."

 

Lena speaks up, "Kara. Where are we going? Did you see something?"

 

"Does anyone think we shouldn't be here?" Edge asks from the back.

 

"His book was a lot fatter than yours," Winn points out.

 

"Really?" Kara asks, not listening as she looks for the thing that caught her eye.

 

Lena cuts in, "yours was fully illustrated though sweetie."

 

Lucy stumbles and Kara manages to take her hand, stopping her from falling. Lucy looks up at her and smiles. Kara smiles back and tries to recover her hand, but Lucy holds tight. Kara accepts it and squeezes her hand gently. Lena notices and smiles. Suddenly, they all stop in their tracks. A huge smile spreads across the faces of both Winn and Kara. Kara walks forward whilst Winn follows, ignoring Lena's pleas to come back.

 

One of the park workers sees them, and calls them over, "come on everyone. Don't be scared."

 

The rest of the group finally see what caught Kara's eye. It's a Triceratops. A big one, lying on its side, blocking the light at the end of the path. It has an enormous curved shell that surrounds its head, with two big horns over its eyes and a third on the end of its nose. It doesn't move, just breathes, loud and raspy whilst blowing up a little clouds of dust with every breath. Kara stands next to Harding, almost in a daze.

 

"Beautiful. Is it okay? Can I touch it?"

 

The worker, called Harding, nods, "go ahead."

 

Kara walks alongside next to the animal. She leans over and strokes its head whilst Lena moves forward towards the animal, "Lena. It's so beautiful. It's the most beautiful thing I ever saw," Kara speaks as she stares at the dinosaur.

 

"It's my favourite," Lena nods, standing with Kara.

 

They both kneel down, checking the animal. Kara furrows her brow, noticing something, filled with professional curiosity now. The animal's tongue, which is dark purple, droops limply from its mouth, "Lena, take a look at this."

 

"Yeah baby girl. It's okay," Lena says softly as she reaches forward, scratching the tongue with her fingernail. A liquid forms from the blisters, "micro vesicles. That's interesting."

 

Kara, fascinated, wanders all the way around to the back of the animal. Harding joins Lena and hands her his penlight.

 

"What are her symptoms?"

 

"Imbalance, disorientation, laboured breathing. Seems to happen about every six weeks or so," Harding replies.

 

"Six weeks?" Lena asks. She takes the penlight from the veterinarian and shines it in the animal's eyes, "are there pupillary effects from the tranquilliser?"

 

"Yes, mitotic, pupils should be constricted."

 

"These are dilated. Take a look," Lena replies, handing back the light, "that's pharmacological. From local plant life," she turns and studies the surrounding landscape. Her mind's really at work, puzzling over each piece of plant life, pointing, she asks, "is this West Indian lilac?"

 

"Yeah. We know they're toxic but the animals don't eat them."

 

"Are you sure?" Lena replies. When Harding nods, Lena speaks, "there's only one way to be positive. I have to see the dinosaur's droppings."

 

Harding nods, "can't miss them."

 

Alex, who has joined them, hears the last part, "dino... dino droppings?"

 

* * *

 

Back at the parks control room, J'onn and Ray are watching the video monitors, displeased about something. Ray is looking at one of the screens that gives them a view from the beach, looking out towards the ocean. The clouds beyond are almost black as the tropical storm grows ever more closer, "that storm centre hasn't dissipated or changed course. We're going to have to cut the tour short, I'm afraid," he speaks, "pick it up again tomorrow where we left off."

 

J'onn sighs unhappily, "you're sure we have to?"

 

"It's not worth taking the chance, John."

 

"Sustain winds 45 knots," James is heard, speaking into a phone.

  
J'onn nods, finally, "tell them when they get back to the cars."

 

Ray picks up his phone and presses the speaker button. He begins making an announcement to the others, "ladies and gentlemen, last shuttle to the dock leaves in approximately five minutes. Drop what you are doing and leave now."

 

"Damn!" J'onn slams his cane into the floor.

 

On the other side, Mxyzptlik stares at his video monitor as he watches the boat. He's on the phone with the crew member, whose images he can see on the monitor. The seas around the dock are much rougher now.

 

"We're not well berthed here without a storm barrier! We may have to leave as soon as the last of the works are aboard," the crewman tells him.

 

Mxyzptlik in a low voice, retorts, "no, no. You stick to the plan. You wait till they're back from the tour."

 

He slams the phone down.

 

* * *

 

As the weather grows darker, Lena, Kara, Harding and Alex are grouped around an enormous spoor of triceratops droppings that stands at least waist high and is covered with flies that pick at the excrement.

 

"Damn... that is one big pile of shit," Alex comments as she reaches it.

 

Lena, by now, has plastic gloves that reach up to her elbows as she withdraws her hand from the middle of the dung. She turns to Harding, "you're right. There's no trace of lilac berries. That's so weird, though. She shows all the classic signs of Meliatoxicity... every six weeks..."

 

She turns and walks out into the open field a few paces as she thinks. Alex watches her and looks back at the dung. She carefully walks over to Kara, who actually acknowledges her, "she's, uh... tenacious."

 

Kara actually smiles, "you have no idea."

 

"She kinda reminds me of Maggie," Alex states softly.

 

"Maggie?" Kara asks, looking at Alex.

 

"Girlfriend," Alex replies, "I... I've realised some things since we last spoke. Big things."

 

Kara nods, "congrats. I'm happy for you... seriously."

 

Alex smiles, and bites her lip, a thing she did when she was young and nervous, "hey... can... can we talk? At some point. Not right now."

 

Kara sighs, and sees the desperation in Alex's eyes. She nods, "yeah... after the tour."

 

Alex looks relieved, and wipes the growing tears in her eyes. She turns to Lena, "you'll remember to wash your hands before you eat anything?"

 

* * *

 

In the control room, Mxyzptlik is busily typing a series of commands into his computer. On his screen, a cartoon hand winds up a cartoon clock, moving its second hand up to the twelve. The clock rotates around to face him. It has a large green dollar sign in the middle. A big word appears on screen, an option surrounded by forbidding red box. 'EXECUTE' it says.

 

* * *

 

The skies are really foreboding now, and there's a sense of growing urgency in the field. Lena is by the animal, a short distance away from the group. Kara is near her, thinking, "Lena, I've been thinking. There's something about the periodicity doesn't had up."

 

Lena nods, "I know."

 

Winn holds one of the smooth rocks up and calls out, a little timidly, "these look kind of familiar."

 

Kara ignores him, still talking to Lena, "Triceratops were constant browsers and constant browsers would be constantly sick."

  
Lena nods, repeating her, "constantly sick."

  
"But not just every six weeks."

 

"Yeah, I know."

  
"I've seen pictures of these!" Winn says a bit louder this time.

 

Kara turns and looks at him, about to say something before she frowns at the rock in his palm. Realisation appearing in her expression.

  
"In your fully illustrated book," Winn adds.

 

Kara nods, going to walk over, but Lena comes over instead and checks out the stones.

 

"What's that?" a light goes on in her eyes, "Kara... a gizzard stone."

 

She throws Kara one of the stones as they look at each other in amazement. As before, when they get excited, they talk right over each other.

  
"Lena, that's it, it explains the periodicity, the-"

 

"-the undigested state of the berries because it's-" Lena speaks.

  
"-totally incidental," Kara finishes.

 

Winn just frowns, "what are you guys saying?"

 

Lena turns to Winn, "it's simple, see. Some animals like her, don't have teeth-"

  
"Like birds," Kara adds.

 

Lena nods, "like birds. You see, what happen is, they swallow the stones and hold them in a muscular sack in their stomachs-"

  
"A gizzard," Kara adds.

 

"Which is called a gizzard, and it helps them mash their food, but what happens after a while-"

 

Kara goes to finish, "what happens is that after a while, the stones get smooth, every six weeks, so the animal regurgitates them."

"Barfs them up," Lena simplifies for Winn.

  
"They then swallow fresh ones," Kara states.

 

"And when she swallows the stones, she swallows the poison berries too. That's what makes her sick," Lena explains, she smiles at the boy, "good work Winn."

 

Kara nods, "brilliant Winn." The younger boy smiles at the praise.

 

Thunder suddenly rumbles as the storm overhead is about to bust loose. Edge, who is scared of more than one thing now, puts his foot down, literally, like a child, "Doctors, if you please. I have to insist we get moving."

 

Lena frowns, "oh, you know, if it's alright, I'd like to stay with Doctor Harding and finish with the trike. Is that okay?" she speaks to Kara and Harding.

 

"Sure. I've got a gas powered jeep. I can drop her at the visitor's centre before I make the boat with the others," Harding nods.

 

She turns to Kara, "I'll catch up with you. You can go with the others. I know you and Alex need to talk,

 

Kara frowns, but nods, "are you sure?"

  
Lena smiles at the Triceratops, "I'll just finish. Yeah, I want to finish."

 

There is a flash of lightning now, with a rattling thunderclap right on its heels. Edge practically screams "now!"

 

Kara turns and follows the others with Winn right in her tracks, who she actually speaks to this time. Lena and Harding go back to the Triceratops, which is starting to come back to life, preening at the attention. As Kara reaches the Explorer, she turns back for one last look at Lena, who has done the same. She raises her hand to wave, and Lena does the same, smiling at her. She drops her hand and goes back into the woods. Just as she does, Lena turns and drops her hand, her back turned, knowing they'll see each other later.

 

In this way, they say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is such a long chapter aha. It was really hard figuring out where to end this one as I didn't want to stop halfway through a scene or too early but I didn't want to stop too close to where the action begins, which should be in the next chapter. 
> 
> Again though, thanks for the love and comments I've been receiving. If you have anymore, I will read theme. 
> 
> Til the next time.


	4. A Storm Is Coming

Back at the park tour cars, as the reflections of the group began to approach them, the first raindrops start to fall onto the windshields of the tour vehicles. They're large, fat drops of rain and they kick up little clouds of the dust that has collected on the cars as they fall onto the glass. The visitors can tell it's going to be a hell of a storm. It's near dark now, with the wind beginning to whip up. The trees are swaying, leaves tearing off the arms.

 

* * *

Back at the park's control room, J'onn is still sitting with Ray, who hasn't stopped staring at the video screens.

 

"I found a way to reroute through the programme," Ray explains, "so I'm turning the cars around in the rest area loop. That okay?"

 

J'onn nods, grumbling in annoyance, "rotten luck, this storm, it really is. Get my grandchildren on the radio will you? I don't want them to worry about a bit of rain."

 

Ray nods, reaching over for the hand microphone for what felt like the hundredth time that day, whilst on the other side of the room, Mxyzptlik, with sweat forming on his upper lip, is staring at his video monitor, watching the live footage of the supply boat. It's still docked on the island shore but is now being buffeted and beaten by the heavy waves, raging wild from the storm. Mxyzptlik is whispering sharply into the phone, arguing with the shipmate again, who he can see on the video monitor, whilst constantly looking over his shoulder to see if J'onn is listening.

 

"There's nothing I can do!" the shipmate explains, "if the Captain says we gotta go, we gotta go!"

 

"No, no, listen to me," Mxyzptlik cuts off, "you've got to give me this time. I did a test run on this thing and it took me twenty minutes. I thought I could do it in fifteen... but you've got to give me fifteen minutes."

 

"No promises!"

  
"I'll be there in ten!" Mxyzptlik replies before hanging up, rubbing his face in frustration.

 

On the other side of the room, Ray is furiously typing, snapping multiple buttons on his keyboard, "visitor vehicles are on their way back to the garage now."

 

J'onn sighs in frustration ,"so how much for our first tour? Two no shows and one sick Triceratops."

 

"It could have been worse, John," Ray shrugs, "it could have been a lot worse."

 

At that comment, Mxyzptlik stands up. J'onn and Ray look at him, and notice that he's literally shaking in his shoes, whilst clearly trying like hell to act casual, "anybody want a Coke? Anybody what some from the machines? Or a soda? Or something?... I had too many sweets so I thought I'd get something sweet," J'onn and Ray shake there heads, in both refusal and annoyance. Mxyzptlik goes to leave, before turning back with an afterthought that's so clearly rehearsed that it's almost obvious, "oh... I finished debugging the phones. But the system's compiling for eighteen minutes, or maybe twenty. So, some minor systems may go on and off for a while. There's nothing to worry about... Simple thing..."

 

J'onn nods, waving him off as he looks back at Ray's computer screen, "okay, okay, okay, okay."

 

Mxyzptlik turns away, stretching one finger out to his screen as he selects an option that reads 'EXECUTE'. At the same time, he brings his free hand up, pressing the start button on his digital watch that he holds in his hand. The clock on the computer screen begins to tick down from sixty seconds. He starts to leave, but returns when he remembers the shaving cream can. He grabs it and leaves.

 

* * *

Back outside, night has completely fallen, and the rain has started, getting heavier and heavier by the minute. It's a tropical storm, with the rain falling in drenching sheets on the roofs and hoods of the Explorers, which are making their way very slowly yet carefully back to the visitor's centre. In the rear car, Kara and Alex are alone. Kara is staring out the window, lost in her thoughts. Alex watches her awkwardly, opening and closing her mouth as she debates what to say.

 

Thankfully, Kara does it for her. Breaking the silence with "so... how long have you been a chaotician?"

 

"Oh. Since I was 25," Alex replies, smiling at the acknowledgement.

 

Kara nods, "I thought you wanted to be a doctor."

 

Alex nods, "I did. For a while anyway. I had this friend back in uni who studies chaos theory and she was explaining it to me and I just... became obsessed. I fell in love with the study of it, so I dropped medical school and joined her in her studies. What about you, how long have you been a palaeontologist?"

 

"I studied palaeontology at university. Took me five years to get my degree," Kara replied.

 

"Oh, is that how you met Lena?"

 

Kara shook her head, "oh, no. I met Lena a year after I got my degree. We both volunteered at the same dig and were paired together. What about Maggie? You mentioned her earlier."

 

"Maggie's a behavioural palaeontologist, although she dabbles in wildlife photography. We met at one of my lectures."

 

"You do lectures?" Kara asks, surprised.

 

"Sometimes. I was asked to talk about chaos theory at a lecture hall when we met. She... she helped me realise I'm gay," she looked at Kara warily, who smiled.

 

"If it helps, me and Eliza always knew."

 

Alex laughed, "that's what mom said too," she looks at Kara, "I never knew you were into girls too though."

 

"I never really hid it," Kara grinned, "but you know why you never knew it."

 

Alex's face fell at that comment, her happy demeanour leaving instantly, "I deserved that. Whilst we're here, can we talk about it?"

 

Kara sighed, "I... I think a talk is long overdue."

 

"I want to start off by saying, I'm sorry," Alex apologises, "I... ever since you left. When you stopped talking to me. I... all I wanted to do was apologise. I kept trying to call you, text you, but I kept being told that you had changed your number."

 

"Yeah. I was adamant about never speaking to you again," Kara admitted, "so I got a new number. Eliza was the only one who knew what it was."

 

Alex nodded, "the truth is, I wasn't going to come here, when Edge asked me... but when he mentioned that you had been invited, I didn't hesitate in saying yes."

 

"Why?"

 

"'Cause I needed to see you. I know this is going to sound hypocritical of me but... I missed you," Alex explains, "ever since you left. I thought about the way I would treat you when we were kids and I realised how much of a bitch I was and I've spent the last ten years regretting it every moment, praying that one day I'd see you again, so I can tell you how sorry I am."

 

"Is that all you wanted Alex?" Kara asked, "just to say you're sorry."

 

"No. Not really. I... I want to be your sister again," Alex admits, "I want to be the sister you deserved when we were kids. I want to be the sister I should've been."

 

"So you want me to forgive you?"

 

"No, actually, no. I don't want you to forgive me," Kara looked confused, "I don't deserve forgiveness. I want another chance, to be your sister."

 

Kara sighed, "Alex... I won't deny. I've missed you, but we can't just go back to being sisters. Especially not after not seeing each other for nearly a decade, plus with everything you did."

 

Alex's face fell, nodding in defeat, "yeah, yeah. You're right. Sure," her voice trailed off, looking out of the window, going quiet. The duo return to the awkward silence, and Kara suddenly feels very guilty. She continues to watch Alex before resigning to looking out of her window, any attempt at reconciliation gone.

 

* * *

Mxyzptlik is waiting outside the large silver door. The large words 'EMBRYONIC COLD STORAGE' printed onto the metal. He's staring at his digital watch that he holds in his hand, counting the seconds as they pass by, "two... one..." as if on cue, the security lock panel to the left of the door goes dark as the power leaves the room and the door makes a loud clunking sound as the door comes ajar. He rushes inside, entering the freezing cooler. Mxyzptlik hurries further in, his shivering hands somehow manage to flip open the hatch on the bottom of the shaving cream can, revealing the multiple slotted compartments that were hidden inside. He goes over to the rack of dozens of thin glass slides. A sign visibly says 'VIABLE EMBRYOS - HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE!'. He doesn't listen, instead, he takes the slides out of the rack one by one, yanking them open with force. They're all labelled, titles such as 'STEGOSAURUS', 'APATOSAURUS', 'TYRANNOSAURUS REX'. He carefully takes out each embryo, slowly slotting them into each little slot in the hidden compartment of the shaving can. 

 

* * *

 

Back in the control room, Ray is staring at his terminal, puzzled as he watches the screen as glowing red and blue lines start blinking off in quick succession.

  
"What?" he asks, tapping keys on the keyboard, but nothing happens. J'onn comes up behind him, as does James.

 

"What is it Ray?" J'onn asks, staring at the screen as he tries to figure out what is going on.

 

"The door's security systems. They're are shutting down," Ray replies.

 

"Didn't Mxy say a few systems would go off-line? I'm sure of it," J'onn states. Ray looks at him, and just shrugs, for he doesn't know.

 

* * *

 

Back in the rear car, Kara and Alex are still waiting in their car as they slowly progress to their destination. They don't notice, neither of them looking in each other's general direction after their conversation as Kara tried to drown out Alex's attempted muffled sobs, but they don't notice the video screen in the middle of their front console suddenly go black, losing power.

 

Kara wants to speak to her, apologise for upsetting her, but she doesn't know what to do. On one hand, she believes she was unfair, but she also believes she was right. Before she can speak however, the cars jerk to a stop, both of them. The lights in the vehicles and along the roadside go out, plunging them into darkness. Kara jerks her hands away from the steering column, immediately assuming it's her fault, like it always is when it comes to technology.

 

"Hey. What'd I touch?" she asks, holding her hands away as she stares at the wheel like it's glaring at her.

 

"You didn't touch anything," Alex actually responds, looking around with curiosity. Kara notices the redness around her eyes, "we're stopping."

 

"I must've touched something. This happens all the time. It must be my fault cause the machines hate me," Kara says, actually believing it.

 

"Machines hate you?"

 

"Yeah!"

 

* * *

 

Somewhere else on the island, in the middle of a water clogged road, Mxyzptlik's jeep tears through the puddles at it speeds up to the giant gates that lead into Jurassic Park. He jumps out, hurrying to the control panel that lives on the side of the cement supports. He flicks the largest switch and the large gates make a large clunking noise as they're unlocked. He runs back, jumping back into the car and rushes into the gates, shoving them open far enough to drive through, scratching the wood and the jeep. He roars into the park grounds, heading to his destination, if he makes it on time.

 

* * *

 

Back at the control room, Ray is staring at his terminal, shocked and panicked as row upon row of coloured lights crawl off his screen, "woah, woah, woah, what the hell? What the hell?!"

 

J'onn rushes over, panic on his face, "what now?"

 

"The fences are failing, all over the park!" Ray yells, "a few minor systems, he said!"

 

J'onn spins around to James, pissed as hell as he yells, "find that idiotic bastard! Check the vending machines!"

  
"The monitors are failing!"

 

James heads for the door just as all the video monitors in the control room go out with a faint electronic zip. The three of them freeze for a moment, looking at each other as the tension in the room goes up a notch.

 

J'onn turns back to Ray, "use Mxy's terminal if you have to. Get it all back on. He can debug it later."

 

Ray nods, pushing off the floor on his chair as he whizzes over to Mxyzptlik's master terminal. With one clean stroke of his arm, he brushes all of the loose junk and rubbish off his station, including junk food, soda cans, torn out magazine pages, etc. and tries to work, "God, look at this workstation!"

 

James steps forward as he starts to grow more and more alarmed, "the raptor fences aren't out, are they?"

  
Ray realises the question and quickly checks, sighing in relief as he replies, "no, they're still on."

 

J'onn turns to James, frowning as he asks, "why the hell would he turn the others off?"

 

* * *

 

Back at the muddy road that runs through the park, a wire mesh fence in front of it has a very clear sign that reads, 'DANGER! ELECTRIFIED FENCE! This Door Cannot Be Opened When Fence is Armed!'. The hand that belongs to Mxyzptlik reaches out as he grabs the fence by the bare wire, flips a latch, and shoves the door wide open. No sparks fly as Mxyzptlik runs from the fence back to his jeep as he drops it in gear and tears off down the park road. The rain is absolutely flowing down at this point now and the road is rapidly turning to liquid mud. In the jeep, Mxyzptlik can barely see through car windshield. He's driving as fast as possible, checking his watch every few seconds, ignoring the road. He leans forward, squinting his eyes to see through the windshield as he wipes off the condensation with his free hand. Out of nowhere, a fork in the road rushes into view. He slams his foot on the brakes, but it's to late. The jeep careens into a signpost, tearing it out of the ground.

  
"Shit!" Mxyzptlik yells. He throws the door open and hurries to the fallen sign which reads in big black letters, 'To The Docks'. He props it up, shoving it into the mud. The directional arrow that is supposed to give directions swings hopelessly on it's loose nail. He clenches his jaws and growls. Soaked, he stomps back to his car. Although he doesn't look too convinced, he drops the car in gear and speeds off to the left.

 

He should've gone right.

 

* * *

 

Back at the control room, J'onn and James watch as Ray tries hopelessly to regain control of the park. He keeps muttering to himself as he tries yet another command.

 

"Access main program grid..." Ray speaks. He punches another button, but a buzzer sounds yet again. Only this time, a little cartoon image of Mxyzptlik appears on the screen, waving its little finger disapprovingly as blue sparks of magic fly out of the tip.

 

"Uh uh uh. You didn't say the magic word!" cartoon Mxyzptlik taunts.

 

Livid, Ray smacks the monitor, yelling "please! God damn it! I hate this hacker crap!" He smacks the top of the monitor again, furious. 

  
J'onn taps on Ray's shoulder, "call his people in Cambridge!"

 

Ray nods, as he whisks across the floor in his chair to snatch up the nearest phone. He punches for an outside line but there's nothing.

  
"Phones are out too."

 

J'onn sighs, lowering his head in frustration, "where did the vehicles stop?"

 

* * *

'TYRANNOSAUR PADDOCK'

 

"BAAA!" the goat that was brought up earlier bleats, still sitting in the exact same spot it had been earlier, sitting in the pouring rain. The two explorers now sit still in the middle of the road as a man's form races back from the front car to the rear car.

 

Kara, soaking wet, climbs back into the care and closes the door behind her as Alex turns to her, waiting for an explanation, "their radio's out too. Edge said to stay put," Kara explains, wiping the water from her face.

 

"The kids okay?" Alex asks.

 

"I didn't ask," Kara frowns, "why wouldn't they be?"

  
Alex shrugs, "kids get scared."

 

"What's to be scared about? It's just a little hiccup in the power," Kara is still confused.

  
"I didn't say I was scared," Alex points out.

 

" _I_ didn't say you were scared," Kara argues, glaring at Alex.

  
"I know," Alex argues back, like they were kids again.

  
"Fine," Kara snaps.

 

Alex sighs and turns, looking out at the rain as it pours, watching the fence that stands between them and the Tyrannosaur paddock. She won't admit it, but she is scared.

 

In the front car, Edge, Lucy and Winn are still waiting, the kids are clearly bored. The rain drums heavily on the roof monotonously. Winn is upside down in the front seat. Lucy grabs his legs, pushing them up and he swings them down.

 

"Up and down, up and down!" Winn chants.

 

Edge is still speaking to himself, muttering "I can't believe we invited Alex Danvers."

 

"People were getting bloody noses... things on your head... aneurysms..." Winn speaks randomly.

 

Lucy, a little dreamily, comments, "I think Doctor Danvers. is really..." she notices what she's saying, "...smart."

  
"I can tell she'll write a bunch of papers saying we're irresponsible," Edge speaks again, still talking about Alex.

 

Winn decides to climb into the back seat of the jeep. Lucy hits him with her hat as he moves by her, muttering "stop being annoying!" Winn ignores her, instead, he chooses to rummage around the cases in the trunk of the car. He opens one, finding something under the seat and sits up, holding what looks like a pair of safety night vision goggles.

 

Edge turns around and notices the device, glaring at Winn, "hey! Where did you find those things?"

  
Winn shrugs, "in a box under my seat."

 

"Are they heavy?"

 

"A little."

  
"Then they're expensive. Put them back," Edge snaps. He leans back and closes his eyes whilst Winn ignores him, putting on the goggles. He stares out the back window of the Explorer, looking at Kara and Alex in the Explorer behind them. The image he sees is bright fluorescent green.

 

"Oh, cool! Night vision!" he exclaims. As Winn watches, the door of the rear Explorer opens and a hand reaches out, holding an empty drinking canteen out to catch some of the rain water. Kara pulls the canteen back in and closes the door, taking a drink. She and Alex wait.

 

Winn continues to stare out of the back window with the goggles, smiling like a kid in a toy shop as he swings his legs. He does this for a few minutes but suddenly stops. He feels something, something weird. Something in his body. He pulls off the goggles and turns back around, moving into the back seat with Lucy who is tapping her hat, and reaches forward to still her hand. She glares at him, but frowns at his expression. He watches her, and her frown deepens when she feels it.

 

It sounds like an impact.

 

BOOM!

 

A second goes by.

 

BOOM!

 

Winn and Lucy look at each other.

 

BOOM! This one is closer.

 

"Can you feel that?" Winn asks in a hushed tone. Lucy nods, glancing around.

 

Winn leans over to the front passenger seat, and he stares directly at the two plastic cups of water that sit in the recessed holes on the dashboard. He watches. The water in the glasses suddenly vibrates, making rippling circles.

 

It stops.

 

Then it does it again. Rhythmically.

 

Like from footsteps.

 

BOOM!

 

BOOM!

 

BOOM!

 

Closer and closer. Faster and faster, much like Winn's breathing at the moment.

 

Edge has woken up now, watching the trails of rain drops on the car window as they jerk around with each vibration, "m-maybe it's the power trying to come back on," he states, but he doesn't sound overly convinced.

 

Winn jumps into the back seat again and grabs the goggles. He puts them on again.

  
  
"What is that?" Lucy asks, tapping his shoulder fast and hard.

 

"What is what?" Edge asks, panicked.

 

Winn turns around and looks out the side window on his side of the car. He can see the area where the goat is tethered.

 

Was tethered.

 

The chain is still there...

 

...but the goat is gone.

 

"Where'd the goat go?" Lucy asks. As if by answer, there's a loud BANG! They all jump, and Lucy screams as something hits the Plexiglas sunroof of the Explorer, hard with an impact that shakes the car. They look up.

 

It's a bloody, disembodied goat leg.

 

"Oh Jesus! Jesus!" Edge screams.

 

Winn whips around to look out the side window again. His mouth opens wide, bringing a new example to jaw dropping, but no sound comes out. He stares through the goggles as he sees a large, grey, shiny animal claw. It's a huge one. One that is gripping the cables of the supposedly 'electrified' fence. Winn forces the goggles off and leans forward, pressing against the window. He looks up, up, up and up and cranes his head back further, as far is it can go to look out the sunroof. Past the goat's leg that still oozes blood. He finally sees it...

 

... it's a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and it's standing at at least twenty-five feet high, taller than any living animal Winn has ever seen. He examines it in detail. It's at least forty feet long from it's nose to the pointy tip of it's tail. It has an enormous, boxlike head that must be five feet long by itself as the remains of the goat hang out of the predators mouth. It tilts its head right back, opening it's jaw as the goat remains fall in, swallows the animal in one big gulp as it crunches down, the sound of breaking bones filling the air. Edge can't even speak. His hand claws frantically for the door handle which he shoulders it open. He takes off, out of the car and away from the kids.

 

"He left us! He left us alone! Doctor Danvers! Doctor Danvers! He left us! He left us!" Lucy yells, a sound that is a mixture between fear and annoyance.

 

Edge runs away as fast as he can, right past the second car and towards a straw outhouse twenty or thirty yards away. He reaches it and ducks inside, pulling the door after him... but there's no latch, just a hole in the unfinished door. He backs into a stall, frantic and nervous as the whole bathroom begins to shake.

 

Kara and Alex watch in confused curiosity at Edge as they see him run past their car.

 

"Where does he think he's going?" Kara remarks.

 

Alex shrugs, although Kara doesn't see it, "when you gotta go, you gotta go, "Alex turns to look the other way out the passenger window. As she watches, the fence begins to buckle, its post collapsing into themselves as the wires begin to break free, "what was that all about?"

 

Kara hears her and turns. She turns in time as she watches as, ahead of them, the 'DANGER!' sign collapses down onto the hood of the first Explorer. The entire fence is coming down now as the posts all start collapsing, the cables slipping off as the T-Rex chews its way through the barrier. They watch in horror and awe as the T-Rex steps over the ruined barrier and into the middle of the park road. It just stands there for a moment, swinging its head from one vehicle to the other before letting out a deafening roar that pierces their ears.  

 

The T-Rex eyes the front car and strides around to the side of it, peering down from high above. Winn leaps into the front seat and tries to pull the driver's door shut quietly, but it smacks shut. Both kids are clearly terrified, breathing hard and unable to speak. Winn keeps muttering "please" over and over.

 

At the rear car, Alex is moaning "god I hate being right all the time" whilst Kara is watching, saying "look at that!"

 

It's as if it hears them, as the T-Rex turns its head and watches them with curiosity. It strides quickly back towards them. Circling the car slowly, bending over to look in at them through the window, it's large eyes staring into the car. Kara and Alex sit trembling in the front seat, watching as the giant legs stride past their windows.

  
In a quivery whisper, Kara speaks, "keep absolutely still. It's vision's based on movement!" 

 

Alex's eyes flick to Kara, but she doesn't move, "you're sure?"

 

Kara pauses, "relatively."

 

Alex freezes again as the gigantic animal bends down, peering right in through her window again. The dinosaur's giant, yellowing eye is only slightly smaller than the entire pane of glass. The T-Rex pulls away slightly, watching the car before it reaches down and bumps the car with its snout, rocking it slightly.

 

In the front car, Lucy is rummaging around in the back cargo area where the goggles were, looking for something, anything that can help. She finds a flashlight. She turns it on and the front car lights up from within as Lucy switches on the light. The T-Rex raises its head, slowly, it turns its head from the second car to the first car, drawn to it by the light. Making a decision, it strides over to the first vehicle. Fast. Winn and Lucy can only stare out of the windows as the T-Rex reaches their car and starts to circle it, towering them as it gazes at the light. The dinosaur bends down and looks in through the front windshield, then the side window. Winn is eye to eye with the animal for a second, before the dinosaur raises its head up, above the car.

  
"I'm sorry," Lucy apologises quietly, "I'm sorry."

  
"Turn it off, Lucy!" Winn complains, "turn it off!" Winn climbs over from the front seat and joins Lucy, "where's the button then?"

 

They're both crying now, Lucy sobs out, "I don't know, I don't know. I'm sorry-"

 

"Why did you do this?"

  
"I don't know! I'm sorry!" Lucy snaps.

 

They freeze, almost forgetting the other person with them. They look up, through the sunroof, as the head of the T-Rex goes higher and higher and higher and higher and then the Rex turns, looking straight down at them through the sunroof.

 

It pauses for a moment.

 

It opens its mouth wide silently.

 

Another bellowing roar fills the park as the the windows shake in their housing. Lucy and Winn scream, the flashlight goes on again and the Tyrannosaurus strikes. The animals head strikes the sunroof, knocking the whole frame right out of the housing of the car and down into the vehicle. The bubble falls down around Winn and Lucy, effectively trapping them as the animal lunges down through the hole, snapping it's extremely large jaws at them. The Plexiglas holds, somehow, and protects them both, even as it pins them to the seats. The T-Rex continues to push down, and the glass groans in protest as crack lines start racing across it like a web. Winn, whose feet were caught above him, somehow pushes back, as only an inch of glass is between him and the dinosaur's teeth that are the size of his lower legs.

 

In the rear car, Kara and Alex can only watch in horror as the dinosaur claws at the side of the vehicle with one of its powerful feet. It pushes, starting to tip the car over.

 

"Oh my God!" Alex exclaims in horror, clutching the dashboard in desperation.

  
"We gotta do something," Kara states.

 

"What? What can we do?" Alex asks, confused.

 

Kara looks around, climbing over the seats. She tears apart the back area in the boot, searching, finally finding the metal case. She opens it, finding flares. She grabs one and moves quickly back to the driver's seat, throwing open the door as Alex watches Kara in shock.

 

In the front car, the glass windows shatter all around the Kids as they're thrown to the side. The Explorer tilts. The Tyrannosaurus bends down and nudges the car with its head, rolling it up over onto its side as Winn and Lucy tumble around inside.

 

Outside the car, the T-Rex nudges the Explorer towards the barrier. Over the barrier, there is the gentle, forest area at one side where the Rex emerged from, but the car isn't next to that, instead, it's been pushed next to a precipice, representing a fifty foot drop. The car is upside down now, being pushed nearer and nearer to the edge. The T-Rex towers over the car and like a dog, it puts one foot on the bottom of the car and tears at the undercarriage with its jaws, biting at anything it can get a hold of as it rips the rear axle free and tosses it aside before biting into a tire, which explodes as it's torn, startling the animal.

 

Inside, Winn and Lucy are trapped inside the rapidly flattening car as the metal casing crushes like paper around them. As the frame continues to buckle, they start crawling towards the open rear windows with the car collapsing behind them. Mud and water start to pour into what little space there is left. Although Winn is ahead, there's a crunch as a seat comes down, pinning him by the leg. Outside, the dinosaur backs up, dragging the Explorer, swinging it left and right like a dog with it's toy. It seems ready to fling it over the edge when Kara gets out of her car. She's holding the flare in one hand, which she pulls the top off of, as bright flames begin to shoot out the end of it.

 

"Hey! Hey! Over here!" she yells, gaining the dinosaurs attention as it turns its neck to stare at her. She waves the flare slowly in front of her, moving it from side to side. The T-Rex follows her moving arm, eyes locked on the flare and it's light. Kara looks over to the wall and tosses the flare over the edge of the barrier. The Rex lunges after it, but still heads towards Kara.

 

Alex watches with horror as the dinosaur nears and nears Kara.

 

She needs to do something.

 

Anything. Because to Alex, it doesn't matter if Kara doesn't want to give her another chance, not anymore, Alex thinks, because right now, there is no way on this Earth that she was going to sit in a Ford Explorer and watch her little sister be eaten alive by an animal that should be extinct.

 

Not _her_ little sister.

 

Alex lunges over the back of the seat, grasping at the flairs. She grabs one and rips it from the case as she leaps out of the car. She turns on the flair, the light bursting out of the tip as she tries to catch the T-Rex's attention, taking it away from her sister with her own newly lit flare. She begins to wave it at the animal, frantically as Kara sees him.

 

"Alex! What are you doing!?" Kara yells, still somehow unmoving as she watches the dinosaur tear it's gaze from her flair to Alex.

 

Alex waves her off, not caring about herself right now as she waves the flair, "get the kids out of here Kara! Get yourself out of here!" She inches back slowly before taking off, running to save her sisters life, to save the kids lives as she sprints down the road.

 

"Get rid of the flair!" she hears Kara yell as the T-Rex picks up speed chasing her and growing nearer.

 

"Save the kids Kara!" she yells back, waving the flair side to side behind her as she eyes the dinosaur, "save yourself!" She runs to the toilet outhouse that Edge went into earlier.

 

She's not fast enough, not far enough ahead of the dinosaur. Without even slowing down, the Tyrannosaurus leans forward and flicks its head up, sending Alex into the air with its snout. It's just a nudge a for the dinosaur, but it sends Alex sailing right through a wooden portion of the wall, and into the building. Her head collides with a wooden beam, and she's out instantly, the straw covering her body from the dinosaur.

 

To Kara, because of the looming size of the T-Rex, it looked like Alex was eaten in one snap of the jaws as she watched the action unfold.

 

As she watched Alex disappear completely from sight.

 

Edge, who cowers in a corner on top of a toilet, screams as the head of the T-Rex pierces through the front of the building, sending chunks of wood and bits of straw flying in all directions inside. The roof collapses as Edge tries to protect himself from the falling junk.

  
Kara gets on her feet and watches as the T-Rex noses around in the rubble. She looks for any sign of Alex hiding, but there's nothing. It seems to find something though. as it lunges, and suddenly all Kara can hear is Edge screaming, the sound piercing as it goes to gurgled choking as the man drowns in his blood...

 

...until there's no sound anymore, stopping abruptly.

 

Kara doesn't waste time, scrambling over to the car, "Winn! Lucy!"

 

"Doctor Danvers!" Lucy's relieved yell comes from inside.

 

She lays on the ground, looking inside, and sees Lucy staring up at her, conscious, with her face covered in mud, "are you okay? Can you move?" she asks Lucy, before turning to Winn, "Winn? Are you okay?"

 

"I'm stuck," Winn complains, looking at his leg, "the seats got my feet!"

 

"Winn. I'll come back for you," Kara replies, "let me get your sister out first."  


Kara reaches in and drags Lucy out, helping her shuffle out of the crushed vehicle, "are you okay?" she tries to find Winn, "Winn? Winn?"

 

Lucy, staring over her shoulder, suddenly starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Kara whirls around, her reflexes surprisingly fast, covering Lucy's mouth at the same time.

 

"Shhh!" Kara hushes, "don't move! It can't see us if we don't move."

 

Lucy looks at her like she's crazy, but freezes anyway. They wait for a second until BOOM! A big T-Rex foot slams down right in front of them as the dinosaurs approaches the car again, its foot digging into the mud, leaving behind a large footprint. It leans down right past them, and sniffs the car, ignoring them with ragged bits of flesh and clothing hanging from its teeth. Kara wants to throw up.

 

That could be Alex.

 

Not finding anything, the dinosaur swings its head away, snorting loudly through its nose as Kara's hat flies off her head. Still, she doesn't move. The T-Rex walks to the back of the car, bending down. 

 

WHACK!

 

The car spins on its roof as it is pushed from behind by the dinosaur. Kara and Lucy are pushed in front of it, helpless to do anything as they scramble around on their knees, trying to keep ahead of the car, which the Tyrannosaurus is now pushing even closer to the edge of the barrier. Kara and Lucy crawl quickly, but the car is moving a lot faster, catching up on them. Winn can be heard from inside the car as Winn tries to untangle himself, screaming. The T-Rex looms over Kara and Lucy as they're pinned between the car and the barrier, the only thing protecting them from the drop. The T-Rex bends down, looking inside and sees Winn moving around. He backs away, furiously and scared, but there's almost no room to move inside. The dinosaur opens its mouth wide and stretches its tongue into the car, moving like a snake as Winn screams and kicks as the tongue tries to wrap around him. It fails, and withdraws from the car.

 

The T-Rex still tries to get to Kara and Lucy, pushing the car which is spinning on its roof. They both scramble, trying to avoid being caught by the T-Rex and being severly crushed by the car.

 

"This way!" Kara yells, but the car almost crushes them between the barrier, "get back!" they move as the T-Rex continues to move the car towards the edge. Kara finally gets on the wall, while Lucy follows. The T-Rex literally roars in frustration as it bends down for one final lunge at the car. Kara sees it coming as she grabs one of the many dangling fence cables on the other side of the barrier, yelling "grab a hold of me!"

 

Lucy nods, wrapping her arm around her neck. She scrambles to the edge of the barrier, and starts to climb down, yelling "Winn! Winn!!

 

The cable is completely slick with rain, and it's takes all Kara can do to hang on as she and Lucy slide rapidly down. Above them, the vehicle is now teetering over the edge, threatening to drop right on top of them if they don't hurry. Kara suddenly gasps as Lucy unknowingly starts to choke her as she holds on for dear life, with Kara letting out a gargled "you're choking me!" The car groans even more now, nearly completely over the edge by now. Kara looks to the side. There are other cables, out of line with the car's impending drop. Her feet begin scrambling along the concrete wall, as Kara tries to swing over towards one, "grab a wire!"

 

She falls too short. Her momentum carries them back the other side instead, but on the second swing Lucy lunges and manages to grab a hold of one of the second cables, yelling "I got it!"

 

Suddenly, the car falls as it loses its balance. Lucy and Kara are clear by inches, clinging to the second cable, but Winn wasn't so lucky, as Lucy screams at the top of her lungs.

 

"Winn!!


	5. Must Go Faster

"Winn!" Lucy screams as she watches the truck fall from the edge, dropping to the floor as it collides with the top of the tree that stands opposite to her. The car is resting on its roof some fifteen feet below them, balancing carefully on the branches. Above them, at the edge of the barrier, the T-Rex stares down at them, watching them carefully, but they are safely out of its reach. It lets out another almighty roar once more in a fit of frustration before it turns around and stomps away, eventually, disappearing from sight. 

 

* * *

Back in the control room, J'onn J'onzz is absolutely livid, repeatedly yelling "I will kill Mxy. I will kill him!" as he's yelling this, James bursts through the doors, panting. J'onn faces him, "well?"

  
James shakes his head, "there's no sign of him anywhere."

 

J'onn roars in frustration, his head pounding as the repeating taunting Mxyzptlik animation stays on repeat, "Ray. Will you please switch off that annoying cartoon?"

 

Ray stares at him, his cigarette is practically burning his lips now, as it's down to almost nothing in his mouth. He hovers over Mxyzptlik's computer terminal, which is now a mass of incomprehensible commands that scroll by quickly as he futilely tries to examine each one of them. James paces, whilst Lena, who had returned during all the mayhem, stares at Arnold in amazement.

 

"Are we getting anywhere with these procedures of yours?" she asks, watching the computer, "I mean... what's hanging us up?"

 

"I ran a key check on every stroke Mxyzptlik entered today," Ray answers, "it's all pretty standard stuff, until this one-"

  
Lena stands, joining the group at the computer, cutting him off, "what one?"

 

He points to the computer screen, directly at a specific series of commands. The others crowd over his shoulder as they stare at the screen.

"'Keycheck/space -o keycheck off safety -o'," Ray explains, "he's turning the safety systems off and he doesn't want anybody to see what he's about to do. Now look at this next entry, it's the kicker, 'wht.rbt.obj'. Whatever it did, it did it all. But with keycheck off, the computer didn't file the keystrokes. Only way to find them now is to search the computer's lines of code one by one."

  
Lena nods, "how many lines of code are there?"

 

Ray sighs, "uh... about two million."

  
"Two million... great, that'll take no time," Lena replies sarcastically, chuckling humorlessly.  

 

J'onn turns to James, a grave look on his face, "James... I wonder if perhaps you would be good enough to take a gas jeep out and bring back my grandchildren."

 

James nods, "sure."

  
"I'm going with him," Lena cuts in.

 

They both head straight for the door as J'onn turns, staring out the three windows that sit at the front of the control room. He's gone pale now and he's sweating, wrapped up in a million thoughts. Behind him, Ray's voice calls to him, but he doesn't hear it.

 

"John? John?"

 

J'onn leans on his cane, and for the first time he looks like he's actually using it for its intended purpose.

 

"John!?"

 

J'onn jumps, turning as he finally hears him, "hmm?"

 

"I can't get Jurassic Park back on line without Mxyzptlik."

 

* * *

 

Back in the middle of the park, the rain continues to pour down all over the island as a gas-powered jeep tears down another park road. Mxyzptlik drives the jeep as fast as he can in the treacherous conditions as he MUTTERS to himself, shaking his head, muttering over and over, "should've been there by now... should've been there..." He hauls the car around a slippery corner and decides to look down, checking his watch on his wrist. When he looks back up at the road, his eyes go wide. There's a wooden guard rail fence right in front of him. He yelps, slamming on the brakes as hard as he possibly can, causing the jeep to fishtail, skidding out of control on the muddy road as he careens towards the fence. He hauls the steering wheel hard to the side as he attempts to regain control of the skid, but the jeep slides off the road, going halfway over the muddied embankment. He slams his fists on the wheel, screaming like a child, "goddamn it!" He drops the car in reverse and hits the gas. The wheels spin, sending mud flying through the air, but the jeep goes nowhere. It just digs itself in further. He can't believe it. Frustrated, he climbs out of the jeep. He freezes suddenly. He can see another park road down the sloping embankment, about twenty feet below. There is a large sign alongside the road. Mxyzptlik leans forward, excitedly as he tries to get a better look.

 

'TO EAST DOCK.'

 

He scrambles to the front of the jeep. Reaching down, he grabs the winch and its coil on the front end of the jeep as he mumbles to himself, no problem. Winch this sucker off the thing... tie it to a thing... pull it down the thing... and pull it back up," as he says all this, he loses his balance and slips, falling back on his rear. He slides down the muddy embankment, across the road below as the mud streaks behind him. Pissed, he gets to his knees tries to wipe the mud from his eyes, but his vision remains blurry, "fuck! I can't see a thing." He stands and pats the ground as his looks for the wince. He finds it and grabs for it. He stands and shuffles around before going to a sturdy looking tree on the other side of the road, panting to himself, "you can make it!"

 

From the distance, there is a soft chirping sound, followed by some movement in the bushes. Mxyzptlik freezes, his eyes looking around for the source of the sound and movement. He doesn't find it. He nervously checks his watch, laughing nervously as he goes back to the winch, but this time faster. A lot faster.

  
"No problem..." he mutters as he pulls the winch, "pop this thing right down..." the chirping comes again and Mxyzptlik turns.

 

Again, nothing.

 

A small figure ducks around the tree and pops out on the other side, hooting playfully. Mxyzptlik looks around one side of the tree, but nothing. It pops up on the other side, hooting again. He looks again. Nothing. It seems like a friendly game of hide-and-seek. But Mxyzptlik begins to get rattled, "that's nice. Gotta go. I'm getting out of here. C'mon you can make it!" He secures the winch and starts to run across the road, back up the embankment. He freezes, as he feels something moving behind him. He turns around, slowly, and sees a Dilophosaur. It stands only about four feet high, like an average sized dog. Its spotted all over like an owl, and has a brilliant coloured crest that flanks its head. It doesn't look very dangerous. In fact, it's kind of cute, "oh. Uh... nice boy. Nice boy. Okay. Run along. I don't have anything for you!" Mxyzptlik speaks to it like it's a pet, "go on! Go home! Dinner time! Are you hungry? They'll feed you! Go, boy. Girl. Whatever."

  
The Dilophosaur just stares at Nedry, tilting its head curiously. Mxyzptlik looks around on the ground, straining his eyes through the mud when he finds a stick. He picks it up and chucks it, throwing it as far as he can.

 

"Nice juicy stick! Fetch!"

 

The Dilophosaur gets into the spirit of the game, but not the object as it bounces excitedly.

 

"C'mon lame brain!" he complains, "what's the matter with you?" He shakes his head and turns, starting back towards the jeep, muttering to himself, "walnut brain... extinct kangaroo... hope I run over you on the way down!"

 

He's near the top when the Dilophosaur suddenly hops out right in front him, startling him, causing him to lose his balance and fall back, right onto his rear, again. He gets to his feet, angry.

 

"I said-" He picks up a stick and chucks it at the animal, yelling "-beat it!" The animal looks annoyed, and Mxyzptlik frowns, "what are you doing..."

 

The animals hisses, the sound vibrating in its throat. The brightly coloured fan that's wrapped around its neck flares wildly, as two bulbous sacs on either side of its neck inflate. It rears its head back again and it SPITS. SPLAT! A big glob of something wet and gooey smacks into the middle of Mxyzptlik's chest. He reaches down and touches the goo that's dribbling down his coat. 

 

"That's disgusting!"

 

SPLAT! Another glob of goo collides into the headlights of the car, right next to Mxyzptlik's head. He stands up. A look of confusion crosses his face. He lifts his right hand, the one that he touched the spit with, and looks at it strangely, flexing the muscles. SPLAT! This time the goo hits him right  in the middle of the face. He screams in fear and tries to rub it away, frantically, because it hurts. He falls back, clawing at this eyes in excruciating pain as he simply smears the goo. He pulls his hands away, starting to hyperventilate as he flails his arms in front of him, blinking repeatedly, but blinded. He staggers forward, to try to get back into the jeep. He somehow manages to get the  
door open, but collides his head on the door frame and collapses to the floor again. The can of shaving cream flies straight out of his jacket pocket and tumbles into the runoff water down the muddy hillside. Mxyzptlik manages to get to his feet again and staggers in the general direction of the jeep. He reaches the open door and feels his way in. He slams the door shut behind him.

 

There is another chirp.

 

From inside the jeep.

 

Mxyzptlik turns and screams as the Dilophosaur is right there, in the passengers seat, watching. It hisses louder than before, its crest fans angrily, vibrating, reaching a crescendo and the thing pounces, slamming Mxyzptlik back against the driver's window, shattering the glass. As Mxyzptlik shrieks, rain and mud wash over the shaving cream can, burying it as Mxyzptlik goes silent, the Dilophosaur tearing at his neck.

 

* * *

 

At the bottom of the cliff side next to the Tyrannosaurus paddock, the rain has all but stopped. Kara and Lucy are at the bottom of the large barrier leading up to the park road. Whether they like it or not, they're in the park now, and are surrounded by thick jungle foliage on all sides. They're both severely beaten up, and Kara's face is covered in blood. She's bent over a big puddle, splashing water on her face and rinsing the blood off, trying to bring herself to. Poor Lucy is clearly scared as hell. She stands behind Kara, ramrod straight and her breath coming short, desperate gasps. Her eyes are wide, and she doesn't look like she can move. As Kara finally gets rid of the blood, she realises her injury doesn't look so bad, instead, it's just a gash on her forehead. She turns and looks up to the tree the Explorer fell in. It's still stuck there, nose down in the thickest top branches. Lucy's gasps are getting louder. 

 

Kara rushes over to reassure her, "hey, come on, don't..." she tries to sooth her, "don't... don't... just... just... stop, stop. It's alright. You're alright," she touches her, but it's awkward, more of a pat on the head than anything strong or reassured, but Lucy responds to the contact, hurling herself forward and throwing her arms tightly around Kara's waist. She clamps here, holding on for dear life, sobbing, "Lucy, you gotta be quiet, please," this quietens her, "cause if it hears you, it might come back," Lucy bursts out crying again, a wailing scream. Kara holds her, no idea what to do as she turns and looks around, yelling in a whisper, "Winn! Winn!" She hears a cracking sound. She looks up to the tree again, and sees the Explorer has fallen a few feet lower into the branches. Kara looks down at Lucy, who is sitting on a rock, rocking herself as she mumbles.

  
"Mom? Mommy?"

 

Kara kneels down in front of her, grabbing her hands, "shh... I'm right here, Lucy. I'm going to look after you. I'm going to help your brother but I need you to stay here and wait for me, okay?"

 

Lucy looks panicked, "he left us! He left us!"

  
Kara shakes her head, "but that's not what I'm going to do. Good!" Kara reassures. She walks to the tree as Lucy scampers into the culvert. Kara takes a deep breath, grabbing hold of the first branch and starts her long climb. Fortunately, it's a good climbing tree, its branches thick and regularly spaced for foot holes. She moves at a good pace and soon enough, she reaches the car's level, on the driver's side. The car's in rough shape and it's much thinner that it use to be. Its nose is now completely smashed in and the front wheels driven solidly into a thick branch. They are what hold it in place, "Winn? Winn?"

 

Kara comes up to the car and looks in. Winn is huddled on the floor on the passenger side, frightened, hugging his knees to his chest. He looks up at Kara with a tear and a blood-streaked faced. His voice is barely audible as he mumbles, "I threw up."

 

Kara smiles sympathetically, speaking softly, "that's okay. Listen, give me your hand."

 

Winn doesn't move.

 

"I won't tell anybody you threw up. Just give me your hand, okay?" Kara promises. She reaches out and Winn reaches too, but they're still about a foot apart. Kara grabs hold of the steering wheel, to pull himself further in but the wheel turns. On the branches, the front wheels turn, losing a bit of their grip on the thick branch that they're resting on. Winn and Kara grab hands as Kara holds on to him, getting an arm securely around his waist. They climb down but they stop on a branch, "okay, that's not so bad, hey Winn?"

 

"Yes it is."

 

Kara smiles, "it's just like coming out of a tree house. Did your mom ever build you a tree house, Winn, eh?"

  
"No," Winn shakily replies.

 

Kara grimaces, "me too," she starts to move down, "okay. Well, the main thing about climbing is to never, never look down, never," she explains.

 

She looks down, her eyes widening.

  
"This is impossible," Winn complains, "how am I going... I can't make it. This is... it's about fifty feet."

 

"So I'm going to help you with your foot?" Kara asks.

  
"What if the car falls?"

 

The car groans forward on the branch in reply, sagging in their direction. They look up as the car begins to shift dramatically towards them.

  
"Oh, no!" Kara shakes her head, sighing, "GO, Winn! Go! Go!"

 

They climb down as fast as they can. The big branch that is supporting the car creaks as it gets ready to give way at any second. 

 

"Faster! Faster!"

 

The branch breaks. Disintegrates, really, and the car falls straight at them, picking up speed.

 

Kara and Winn let go of the branch they're on and fall, smacking into another branch a few feet down. The car collides into the bug branch they just vacated, stopping there.

 

Kara and Winn are half climbing, half falling down the tree now, slipping on the resin-covered branches, just trying like hell to get out of the way. The second branch breaks, and now the car smashes and crashes through a network of thinner branches, headed right for them. It hits open space and goes into free fall.

  
Kara turns and puts up her arms in defence, but the car stops, slamming straight into a thick branch just above her. Kara looks up, her nose touching the front grill. The new branch starts to creak under the pressure. Kara and Winn basically fall down the rest of the tree, the car bashing its way through right behind them. They jump the last six feet and hit the ground, hard. Kara grabs Winn and rolls with him to the side, just as the car smashes, nose first, into the Earth, standing upright. They look up in relief, but the damn thing's still heading for them, almost like its personal, now tipping over and falling straight at them. There's no way they have time to get out of the way this time, so Kara just balls herself up on top of Winn to try to protect him.

 

CRASH! The jeep falls on top of them. Kara, amazingly unhurt, looks up, confused. They're inside the jeep again, saved by the hole sunroof.

 

Winn sighs, "well... we're back... in the car again."

 

After managing to climb out of the car with Winn, Kara takes him over to Lucy, who is still in terrified, slowly banging her head against her knees. Kara is at the wall of the cliff, studying the map of the park she picked up during the slide show, muttering "okay... okay..." She's trying to get her bearings from the crude, cartoon-like drawing on the map, but it's tough. She looks up, picking a direction, and shoves the map in her pocket decisively. She looks back in at Lucy, "Lucy, you're going to have to stand up please. Hiding isn't a rational solution. We're going to have to improve our situation." She doesn't move, causing Kara to look at Winn, "Winn's here. He's okay." Still nothing, so Kara tries a new tactic, even though she knows its cruel, but she walks away, "'course... you could just wait in there while we go back and get help."

 

Winn joins in on the plan, following Kara, "that's a good idea."

  
"You'll probably be safe enough on your own-"

 

"I doubt it," Winn cuts in.

 

"Maybe... it's hard to say."

  
"Liar!" Lucy screams, "you said you wouldn't leave!"

 

Kara sighs, "I'm trying to use psychology to get you out of the drain."

 

Lucy just stares at Kara like she's nuts. Winn shakes his head at Kara as if to say 'nice try'. Kara calms her tone.

 

"We can't go back the way we came," Kara explains, "what we have is a free range T-Rex on the road. There's fences on either side and if we meet him between here and the lodge, we'd have problems. But what this means... what this means is that this whole paddock is empty. It's safe."

  
"It's safe?"

 

Kara nods "it's safe."

  
"It's safe," Lucy says to herself.

 

Kara points in the desired direction, "that's the way we're going to go. What do you say?"

  
Lucy finally nods, standing shakily, "alright."

 

Kara gives her a side hug and helps her crawl out of the culvert. Winn and Lucy nod at her, and she starts off in the direction she indicated. They trail behind him.

 

"Might be kind of slow, but it can't be more than three or four miles," she explains, "I'd hoped the Rex would've finished feeding by now, but let's not kid ourselves. Did you know a carnivore can eat up to 25% of its body weight in one sitting, so he's probably just ready to move on to the main course by now-" she stops in the middle of the sentence, noticing she's alone. She turns around, noticing that now both kids have scampered all the way back into the culvert, terrified. She sighs, realising her mistake, and heads over.

 

* * *

 

  
James and Lena race down the park road in an open-topped jeep like the one Mxyzptlik had took earlier. Neither of them are speaking, instead, they just stare ahead grimly, wondering what they're about to find. They reach the Tyrannosaurus paddock, and James quickly points somewhere.

  
"There they are!"

 

They round a corner and come to the top of the hill, where the attack took place. The jeep skids to a stop as they jump out. The road is now a rutted, muddy mess. The wooden outhouse is a pile of splinters and one of the Explorers is gone, the other stands untouched, both doors hanging open.

 

"Oh, God. Where's the other car?" Lena asks, looking around with her flashlight. She runs to the Explorer and James follows, looking around carefully. At the Explorer, Lena leans in and looks around. Nobody's there. She and James quickly walk towards the wreckage of the outhouse, calling out.

 

"Maybe it's ahead of us," Lena comments, talking about the missing T-Rex.

 

"It could be anywhere. With the fences out, it can go in and out of any paddock it likes," James nods grimly.

 

They startle as they hear a soft moaning sound from somewhere in the wreckage of the restroom. They rush over to the owner and breathe a sigh of relief as they see Alex Danvers on her back, semiconscious among the twisted wood and straw.

 

"Shit! It's Alex!" he remarks, dropping down to check on her condition. He shines his light along the length of Alex's body. Her shirt is soaked with her blood, ripped and tatter and showing off her bra, but her right leg is even worse off. The right ankle is bent outward at a strange angle from her leg and the trousers are flattened, soaked with her blood. Alex's belt has been twisted around her thigh.

 

"She's put a tourniquet on. Alex! Alex!" Lena whisper yells as she kneels down next to Alex's head.

 

Alex groans as she touches her, groggy, mumbling "remind me to thank J'onn for a lovely weekend."

 

The T-Rex roars again, closer now. Lena and James look at each other whilst Alex sits up, looking in its direction. 

 

"Can we chance moving her?" Lena asks.

 

"Please... Chance it," Alex replies, "don't leave me with that thing."

 

James picks up Alex whilst Lena supports her legs. James, as carefully as possible, places Alex in the back of the jeep.

 

"Where are the kids? Where's Kara!? Is she safe?" Alex asks frantically.

 

Lena looks around, "Lucy! Winn! Kara!!" She turns and looks back at the empty road. On the verge of tears, but trying to fight them back.

 

"Doctor Luthor, I've seen a lot of animal attacks. People just disappear. No blood, no trace. That's the way it happens," James says quietly, "I'm sorry."

 

"No, no, no!" Lena and Alex chant together. Lena walks to the edge of the road, her eyes following the deep ruts the Explorer made when it went over the edge as James gets ready to leave. 

 

"Lena, come on!" James yells from inside the jeep.

  
"The other car!" Lena yells back, looking over the edge.

 

James runs over, joining her in looking over the edge, "shit! There's a maintenance ladder for the culvert over there!" he runs over, Lena following as Alex struggles to watch, "come on!"

 

They get down quickly, running over to the destroyed car as their flashlight beams spray light at the base of the tree.

 

"Doctor Danvers!" James yells.

 

"Kara!" Lena yells too.

 

They go to the wrecked Explorer. James peers inside, looking for anything.

 

"Do you see anything?" Lena asks.

 

"I don't know," James replies, eyeing the inside. he T-Rex roars again, closer still. Lena nervously goes to the other side of the car and looks in.

  
"Kara?!" she asks quietly.

  
"They're not here," James states. 

 

Lena desperately searches the ground for any signs of Kara and/or the kids. 

 

She finds their footprints.

  
"Thank God!"

 

* * *

Alex, still laid out in the back of the jeep, feels something strange yet familiar. She looks down, watching the environment carefully. Her eyes find one of the large T-Rex footprints in the road.

 

It's filled with water.

 

The water in the puddle vibrates rhythmically.

 

Alex's eyes widen. 

 

_Not again._

 

She looks around, frantically for the dinosaur or Lena and James.

  
Uh... anybody? Anybody hear that?" Alex speaks to no one in particular.

 

* * *

Lena is still looking around, much to James' chagrin. Her flashlight falls on three sets of footprints in the mud, "look!" With her flashlight, she follows the trail the footprints made in the ground. They lead into the jungle and disappear from sight.

 

* * *

 

Back at the fences, Alex's staring , wide-eyed, at the rings in the water, which are getting bigger and bigger now, by the second. She's still talking to herself, "it's a... an impact tremor is what it is, it, uh..."

 

BOOM.

 

BOOM.

 

"I'm fairly alarmed here!" Alex almost yells. Lena and James come up over the embankment from the ladder, excited but clearly afraid, "gotta move, gotta get out of here," she chants, waving her arms in a flailing 'come here' motion, "let's go... we gotta go, we gotta get out of here, right now! Go, go! Let's hurry, let's get out of here!"

 

She stops talking. The booming is louder now, and faster. The vibrations getting harder. They look back, over their shoulders. 

 

"Oh," Lena breathes. Lena and James frantically get into the jeep, James in the driver's seat.

 

"Move now! Let's go, let's go, right now, right now!" Alex repeats after herself, over and over. 

 

The Tyrannosaurus Rex smashes out of the jungle foliage, bursting onto the road. It eyes them before running straight at them, moving at least thirty miles an hour.

 

"GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO!" Alex screams.

 

James fumbles for the keys, turning the jeep over and slams it into gear. He drops the clutch, hits the gas, and tears ass out of there, but the jeep is slow to work through the first few gears. Terrified, Lena dares to look down to the side view mirror, which tells her:

 

'Objects Are Closer Than They Appear'.

 

And they sure are. The T-Rex is still gaining on the slowly accelerating jeep as all three of them stare back at the looming predator in terror.

 

"Faster, faster!" Lena chants, smacking the dashboard as if that would do the trick.

  
"Must go faster, it's getting closer... must go faster!" Alex agrees, looking at James over her shoulder.

 

"Faster! Shit, shit, shit, faster!" Lena screams as the teeth of the animal become visible.

 

"Must go faster, go, go. Open it up, 5th gear, 5th gear!" Alex yells, staring into the T-Rex's eyes, "here it comes! Stand on it! Fifth! Stand on it, 5th gear, go!"

 

Alex's consistent yelling means they don't see the half-fallen tree branch right in front of them, blocking the path of the road. James is the first to look back, shouting "DOWN!"

 

They all duck.

 

The windshield collides with the branch, shattering as the jeep flies ahead, really picking up speed now. The T-Rex just runs right through the branch, tearing through it entirely. They're bounced around pretty badly and Alex is knocked into the front, in doing so, she knocks the gear shift into neutral. The engine races and the T-Rex closes in again.

 

Losing ground now, the dinosaur makes a final lunge for the jeep, throwing itself forward and it sinks its teeth into the left rear quarter panel.

 

"Faster, faster!"

 

James manages to slam it back into gear, gunning it. The T-Rex finally gives up, coming to a stop before fading into the distance. They drive in silence for a few moments, all scared out of their wits.

  
Alex sits back, her head on the back of Lena's seat, "think they'll have that on the tour?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Request to the readers.
> 
> Tell me in the comments if you want me to also rewrite JP 2 and 3. 
> 
> (JP 2 will focus on Alex and Maggie)


	6. Rao Bless You

Kara, Lucy and Winn are making their way through the large jungle that surrounds Jurassic Park. Far in the distance, there's another roar from the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Kara hears it, but tries not to show it. It had taken her some time to get Lucy and Winn out of the culvert, but eventually, they were on there way, and soon they were far away from the Tyrannosaurus paddock and on their way back to the park, if the directions were not incorrect.

 

"Are you hearing this?" Lucy asks, panicked as her head snaps repeatedly from side to side, before looking at Kara.

  
"No, I didn't hear anything," Kara lied, "we're okay," they keep walking, but now Kara is looking around for a safe place to hide. She looks up to the towering trees around them, "you (guys) both look pretty tired. We ought to find someplace to rest," she hears another roar, "like about now. C'mon! Hurry up! Up this tree."

 

"Why are we hurrying if there's nothing wrong?" Lucy asks, confused.

 

"What if we fall? I hate trees," Winn complains as they walk over to the large tree.

  
They begin climbing the tree, Lucy and Winn above Kara, who is behind, watching the other two and giving them a push up when they need it.

 

"I hate trees!" Winn complains again as he struggles to latch onto a hole in the tree.

 

"They don't bother me," Lucy mocks as she climbs at a faster rate, smirking at Winn.

  
  
"Yeah, you weren't in that last one."

 

"It's not a race guys," Kara sighs from below.

 

Now, near the top of the tree, the three of reach and pick themselves up, moving to a large, thick branch that they can sit on, dangling their legs as they look out over the park. It's an incredible view, despite the situation. They can see in all directions and with the full moon in the night sky, there's a lot of detail to be seen. Most striking of all are dozens of sauropod heads at the end of their long necks that tower over the park.

 

"Hey! Those are Brontosauruses... wait, or are they Brachiosauruses?" Winn comments, pointing to the dinosaurs.

 

"They're Brontosaurs," Kara replies, "and it's a great name. I think it's a romantic name. It means 'thunder lizard'."

  
"Thunder lizard!""

 

Kara finds a solid web of branches and settles herself in, leaning back against the trunk of the tree with a little room on either side of her. Lucy nestles up next to her on the branch. Kara jumps in surprise, but accepts it. Winn climbs off to the side to a nook in the branch of his own. It's silent for a moment and the three can hear the noises of the animals as they call. Some are almost musical.

  
"Listen to that," Kara states softly, "they're singing," she stands up, moving over to a higher branch, she continues her explanation, "of course no one's ever heard one from a dinosaur before, but I could swear that sounds suspiciously to me like a mating call. In an all-female environment as well, "she smiles, enchanted. She cups her hands together in a specific way, creating a whistle like hole in the gap between her hands. She hoots herself, trying to imitate one of the calls. Without hesitation, five or six of the heads turn in their direction and hoot back in reply. 

 

"No, no, sh, sh, sh," Lucy urges, smacking Kara's arm, "stop! Stop! Stop! Don't let the monsters come over here!"

 

"They're not monsters, Lucy," Kara replies, "hey're just animals. These are herbivores."

 

"That means they only eat vegetables. But for you, I think they'd make an exception," Winn teases, not taking his eyes off the dinosaurs.

  
"Winn, Winn, Winn..." Kara scolds.

  
"Oh," Lucy replies, "I hate the other kind."

 

"They're just doing what they do," Kara explains. She gets off the branch and goes back to sit with the kids.

  
"Dorkatops!" Lucy spits at Winn.

 

"Straight-A brainiac!" Winn replies.

 

"Could you guys possibly cool that for a-" Kara starts, but satisfied with his insult, Winn settles in for the night. Kara shifts too, getting comfortable, but something in her pocket pinches her. She winces in pain and reaches into her pocket to dig it out. It's the Velociraptor claw she unearthed in Montana. Yesterday, actually. She looks at it, thinking a million thoughts whilst staring at this thing that used to be so priceless.

 

"What are you gonna do now if you don't have to dig of dinosaur bones any more?" Lucy asks.

 

"I guess we'll just have to evolve too," Kara jokes.

 

"What do you call a blind dinosaur?" Winn quips.

  
Kara smiles, "I don't know. What do you call a blind dinosaur?"

 

"Do-you-think-he-saurus," Winn replies, laughing at his own joke, "what do you call a blind dinosaur's dog?"

 

"You got me."

  
"A Do-you-think-he-saurus Rex," Winn answers.

 

Kara laughs and both kids finally close their eyes, but after a moment, Lucy pops hers open again, "what if the dinosaur comes back while we're all asleep?"

  
Kara shrugs, "I'll stay awake."

 

Sceptical, Lucy continues, "all night?"

  
Kara nods, "all night."

 

Kara eyes the claw for a long time before she relaxes her hand, letting the claw fall to the ground.

 

* * *

 

Back at the visitors centre, J'onn was sitting at the end of one of the long, white sheet covered tables, filled with cakes and food and drinks. He's staring at all of the merchandise that hangs on the wall opposite him. Lena comes into the darkened restaurant, following the source of the flickering light as she looks for J'onn. A candle burns at the table. There is a bucket of ice cream in the middle, and he's eating a dish of it, staring down. Lena draws up to the table and J'onn looks up at her. His eyes are puffy and for the first time she's seen him, the fire has gone from his eyes.

  
"It was all melting," he gestures to the ice cream, trying to laugh, but failing.

 

Lena nods, "Alex is okay for now. I gave her a shot of morphine."

 

J'onn smiles, "they'll all be fine. Who better to get the children through Jurassic Park than a dinosaur expert?"

 

Lena nods, and there is another pause. J'onn breaks it again.

 

"You know the first attraction I ever built when I came to America? It was a Flea Circus," J'onn reveals, "really quite wonderful. I had a trapeze, a carousel and a seesaw. They all moved, motorised of course, but the people would swear they could see the fleas. 'I see the fleas, mummy! Can't you see the fleas?'" he chuckled, "clown fleas, high wire fleas, fleas on parade..." he trails off. Lena just looks at him, not sure what his state is, but he goes on, "but with this place, I... I wanted to give them something real, something that wasn't an illusion, something they could see and touch. An aim devoid of merit."

 

"But you can't think through this one. You have to feel it," Lena replies.

 

"You're absolutely right. Yes, you're right. Hiring Mxyzptlik was a mistake, that's obvious. We're over-dependent on automation and I can see that now," J'onn nods, "but that's all correctable for the next time around."

 

Lena looks annoyed, "J'onn, you're still building onto that circus, that illusion. And now you're adding onto it by what you're doing here. That's the illusion," Lena explains.

  
"Once we have control again we-"

 

"Control?! You never had control!" Lena yells, "I was overwhelmed by the power of this place. So I made a mistake too. I didn't have enough respect for that power, and it's out now. You're sitting here trying to pick up the pieces J'onn but there's nothing worth picking up. The only thing that matters now are the people we love. Kara, Lucy and Winn. J'onn, they're out there whilst people are dying... people are dying!" There is a long pause whilst J'onn avoids her gaze. She reaches out and takes a spoon from one of the buckets of ice cream, licking it, "it's good," she laughs humorlessly.

 

He looks up at her, and his face is different, as the unhappy irony of what he's about to say finally hits home, "spared no expense..."

 

* * *

 

The sun slowly comes up over Jurassic Park, and the danger of the night before is overcome by the sheer beauty of the place. Over at the edge of the great open field, a huge tree marks the border between the open area and the beginning of the jungle. Up in the tree, Kara, Winn and Lucy are asleep in the branches of the tree, both kids now curled up under Kara's arms. A heavy shadow falls over all three of them, blocking out the sun entirely. Kara awakens, only a little bit asleep, as a Brontosaurus' head pushes into the tree branches right up beside them. It hesitates there for a second, seemingly staring at them as Kara just watches as it opens its mouth very wide and bites down on a branch over their heads. Thee kids awaken with a start. Winn points, but Lucy opens her mouth to scream, but nothing comes out.

 

"Go away!" she finally yells, waving her hand in a shooing motion.

 

"It's okay! It's okay! It's a Brontosaur," Kara replies quietly.

  
"Veggiesaurus, Lucy, Veggiesaurus!" Winn adds.

 

But Lucy isn't taking any chances and scrambles back, away from its mouth. Winn and Kara come together on the branch, just staring at the dinosaur in wonder as it eats its breakfast. Kara gets another branch whilst Winn scampers up, trying to get the Brontosaurus' attention.

  
"Come here, boy... I mean girl," he urges, he whistles.

 

Kara moves forward and tries to feed the Brontosaur. The animal gets the end of the branch and starts a tug-of-war with Kara. Winn tries to help her and they really begin to have a good time with the Brontosaur.

 

HONK!

 

The Brontosaurus makes a loud honking noise, startling Kara and the kids, "take a bite, take a bite. I'm not letting go."

  
"It's so strong! Look at its nose," Winn grabs onto the branch, "need help?" Winn reaches out, petting the dinosaur's head while it chews, "thatta girl. Hey Lucy, you can touch it. It's a girl, just like you. Come on, it's okay. Lucy, come on and touch it."

 

"Come on, try some. Take a bite," Kara urges the dinosaur.

 

"It's good protein," WInn says to the animal, "come on, Lucy. Why don't you touch it? Look at his nose."

 

"This is a seventy-seven ton animal. Come on over, Lucy!" Kara adds, "just think of it as a big cow. Look at it's teeth," she moves in closer, "come here, girl. This is a seventy-seven ton animal. Just think of it as a big cow!"

 

Kara manoeuvres in closer. She reaches out and grabs hold of the animal's lip with both hands and pulls it down, revealing the jaw at work.

  
"I like cows," Lucy murmurs as she watches the display.

 

"You're a beautiful big animal," Kara coos, "her nose is running. It looks like it has a cold."

 

The dinosaur keeps chewing, not objecting to the inspection.

  
"Did you smell that?" Winn asks. Lucy tentatively edges forward in the tree to the inspection.

 

"Come on girl, up here," she urges, holding out her hand. She barely touches the thing on the tip of its nose when it sneezes. It's a vast explosion, and Lucy falls back, dripping wet from head to toe.

  
Winn leans forward, and yells a word he had been hearing Kara use a lot, "Rao bless you!"


	7. Life Found A Way

After waiting a few more hours for the sun to properly rise. Kara, Lucy and Winn eventually climbed down the large tree. Lucy is still soaked from head to toe from the dinosaur snot, stomping her feet as she walks in frustration.

 

"Great. Now she'll never try anything new," Winn muttered as he walked alongside Kara. Lucy, embarrassed and ticked off, glares at him from over her shoulder, "she'll just sit in her room and never come out and play-" Lucy picks some mucus off her shirt and flicks it at Winn, who dodges it, "with her toy guns."

 

"I want to be in the army. Sue me!" Lucy snaps.

 

As they come to a large root of the tree that protrudes from the ground, Winn rushes up to Lucy, leaving Kara behind them. The duo bicker as they climb over, continuing to walk. Kara climbs over, but freezes as she hits the ground. She stares at the ground in awe, reaching down. Lucy and Winn notice that she's not following them, and turn around. They walk over to her, looking to see what's in Kara's hands as their eyes widen in amazement. 

 

A dinosaur egg.

 

They then notice the others, littered along the ground. White shells, broken to pieces.

 

"You know what this is?" Kara asks, staring gleefully at the shell, the two nod, "yeah... it's a dinosaur egg. The dinosaurs are breeding."

 

"But... grandpa says all the dinosaurs are female," Lucy comments.

 

"Amphibian DNA."

 

Lucy turns to Winn, "what?"

 

"On the tour," Kara explains, "in the film. Mrs DNA said they used frog DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps, and frogs are amphibian. They had to mutate the dinosaur's genetic code and then blended it with that of frogs," she pauses, "now, if I'm correct, some West African frogs have been known to change sex from male to female, or vice versa, in a single sex environment," Kara laughed, "Alex was right. Life found a way!"

 

* * *

 

Speaking of Alex, back in the control room, the mood in the room was hopeless. Alex, her wounds now bandaged, but still in real pain, hangs around with Lena and James, hoping for some development while Ray is still at his computer terminal, looking a mess as he doggedly sorts through the computer system's lines of code. One. By one. By one. They flick by, reflected in his glasses. He turns and stares up at J'onn with a look of absolute incredulity on his face.

 

"No, no, no, that's crazy," Ray yells, "you're out of your mind... absolutely out of your mind-"

 

"Wait a minute. What exactly does this mean?" Lena asks. J'onn turns to her, the twinkle back in his eye.

 

"We're talking about a calculated risk, which is the only option left to us," he replies, "we will never find the command Mxyzptlik used. He covered his tracks far too well and I think it's obvious he's not coming back. So shutting down the system-"

 

"I will not do it," Ray snaps, cutting in, "you'll have to get somebody else, because I will not."

 

"-shutting down the system is the only way to guarantee wiping out everything he did," J'onn continues, "if I understand correctly, all the system will come back on their original start-up modes. Correct?"

 

"Theoretically, yes," Ray nods, "but we've never shut down the whole system. It may not come back at all."

  
"But would we get the phones back?" Lena asks.

 

"Yeah, again, in theory, but-"

 

James, desperately, speaks, "what about the Lysine contingency? We could put that into effect!"

  
"What's that?"

 

"It's absolutely out of the question," J'onn snaps, walking away from the group.

 

"The Lysine contingency," Ray explains, "it's intended to prevent the spread of the animals in the case that they ever got off the island, but we could use it now. Dr. Wu inserted a gene that makes a single faulty enzyme in protein metabolism. Animals can't manufacture the amino acid Lysine. Unless they're continually supplied with Lysine by us, they'll go into a coma and die."

 

"How would we cut off the Lysine?" Lena asks.

 

"No trick to it. Just stop running the program. Leaving them unattended."

 

Alex finally decides to speak up, "how soon before they become comatose?"

 

"It would be totally painless. They'd just slip into unconsciousness and they die."

  
Alex shakes her head, "how long before they slip into unconsciousness?"

  
"About seven days, more or less."

 

"Seven days?! Seven days?! Oh, great. Oh good. Clever," Lena snaps.

 

"That'll - it'd be a first; man and dinosaur all die together. J'onn's plan," Alex snorts.

 

J'onn finally loses his cool. He bellows, summoning every ounce of authority he has. And that's quite a bit, "PEOPLE ARE DYING!" There is a moment in which no one dares to speak. J'onn regains himself, "will you please shut down the system."

 

Ray swallows and gets to his feet, "well... you asked for it-" he walks slowly across the room to a red metal box on the wall. Taking a key from his belt, he unlocks the door and opens it. There's a row of four switches inside. He flips them off, one by one, leaving only a single lever left. His hand hovers over it and he flips the lever, "-and you got it." Every monitor, every terminal, every fluorescent light shuts out. Plunging them all into near-darkness. They just sit in eerie stillness for a moment.

 

Lena, in a quiet voice, asks, "how long will this take?"

 

"'Bout thirty seconds." 

 

They wait in tense silence. J'onn adjusts the wilting silk handkerchief in his breast pocket. He notices Alex staring at him, her eyes full of disapproval.

 

"I think perhaps I'll just sit down. I don't suppose you think all that much of me now, do you?" J'onn states.

 

"You're all right, J'onn. You're okay. It's just you don't have intelligence," Alex replies, "you have what I like to call 'thinktelligence'. You think narrowly and call it being focused. You don't see the consequences. You're very good at solving problems, at getting answers... but you just don't know the right questions."

 

"Alex-" Lena starts. Alex looks at her.

 

"Yes?"

  
"Please, I know you're right, but now is not the time."

  
Alex sighs, "fine," she turns to J'onn, "it's not a criticism, by the way."

 

Finally, Ray turns back to the box. He flips the row of safety switches back again, then hesitates by the main switch, sighing, "hold on to your butts." He throws it.

 

Nothing happens.

 

There is a very long pause.

  
"It's not working. Is it?" Alex asks, dejectedly. 

 

"...No."

 

"Listen, which of you knows how to handle a gun?" James asks randomly.

 

But Ray, who can't quite understand this, races over to his main monitor, cheering, "it's okay! It's okay! Look! See that?! LOOK!"

 

They stare at the monitor, which glows with a faint amber light. The only mechanical thing in the room that's on. The left hand corner of the screen displays two words, '/system ready'. Ray looks at them, his face triumphant.

 

"It's on! It worked!"

  
"That will teach you to trust me," J'onn replies smugly.

 

"Wait a minute? What do you mean 'worked'? Everything is still off!" Alex cuts in.

 

"The shutdown must have tripped the circuit breakers. All we have to do is turn them back on, reboot a few systems in here... the phones, security doors, half a dozen others but it worked! System ready!" Ray replies.

  
"Where are the breakers?" James asks.

 

"Out in the maintenance shed. Other side of the compound," Ray replies, "I'll go out there. Three minutes and I can have the power back on in the entire park."

 

"Just to be safe, I'd like to have everybody in the emergency bunker until Mr. Arnold returns and the whole system is back on its feet again," J'onn announces.

 

* * *

 

Kara, Winn and Lucy walk through the park grounds, heading across a relatively open area as Kara consults the map.

 

"I'm tired, and I'm hungry," Winn complains, "when I get back I'm gonna have peanuts and...etc."

 

Kara nods, not looking up from the map, "the visitor's centre should be just about a mile beyond that rise. If we keep-"

 

The animal cry they heard earlier is closer now, louder, and repeated by many more animals. Kara finally looks up.

 

"What is that?" she asks, smiling as she watches the herd of dinosaurs near them, "can you tell me what they are?"

 

"Gallimimus?" 

 

Kara turns around to face the direction the sound is coming from. She squints as the animal cries are much louder now, accompanied by a low rumble.

 

"They're flocking this way," Winn comments, watching as the dinosaurs turn in their direction. Kara takes a few steps forward. As she watches, she can make out shapes in the distance. Dinosaurs. Dozens of them. All at once, she figures it out.

 

Kara's eyes widen, "STAMPEDE!"

 

And that's exactly what it is, a stampede of at least forty Gallimimuses by name. Lucy is ready to get out of there, but Kara and Winn hesitate, staring. The dinosaurs kick up a flock of birds, which startles them, and they call change direction at once, the same way.

 

"Look at the wheeling," Kara points, "the uniform direction change. Like a flock of birds evading a predator."

 

Sure enough, they hear a roar, the very familiar roar of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

  
"Oh, shit," Lucy exclaims, turning on her heel and running. Kara and Winn whirl at the sound, but can't place it as it seems to come from all around them. They look back towards the stampede. The herd spontaneously changes direction again, and now they're headed straight at them for the second time. The three of them take off across the meadow towards the relative cover of the jungle. It's a foot race, but the herd is far faster and Kara knows they're not going to make it. They jump over a huge root network and  there's a space under it to hide. Kara stops the kids, shoving them underneath before following them. They cover their heads as the herd storms over the roots, chunks of everything fly everywhere as the herd ploughs overhead, their clawed feet striking the roots dangerously close to Kara and the kids. Finally, they pass and Kara peers over the top root. She looks toward the trees which the herd is now running alongside. Another roar comes from somewhere within the trees. The T-Rex bursts out ahead of the herd, cutting them off, which throws them into disarray, scattering them everywhere. They all stare as the towering animal kicks it into overdrive. It runs down one of the Gallimimuses, sinking its teeth into its neck. The T-Rex makes the kill in a cloud of dust and debris. Winn and Kara half rise to their feet, staring in wonder, Lucy however, doesn't. 

 

"I wanna go. Now!" she snaps.

 

But Kara and Winn are transfixed, watching the T-Rex, "watch how it eats!" Kara points.

 

"Please!" Lucy urges.

 

"Bet you'll never look at birds the same way again!" Kara comments to Winn, who nods in fascination. The T-Rex pauses in the middle of its meal and lets out another roar.

 

"Let's go!" Lucy now resorts to tugging on Kara's shirt.

 

Kara, who finally notices Lucy's unease, nods, "okay. Keep low and follow me." Lucy nods and turns, taking off, running as fast as she can across the open plain. Winn and Kara tear themselves away and follow her, but Winn looks back for one last glimpse.

 

"Look at all that blood!" he exclaims, jumping in surprise when Kara lifts him up by the waist, spinning him around to face Lucy and pushing him, urging him to run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been busy with work, college and Christmas shopping.


	8. The Pirates Don't Eat The Tourists

Back at the bunker, Lena paces impatiently at the top of the stairs, deep in thought. She turns and comes down the stairs, "something's happened. Something went wrong."

 

James paces too whereas J'onn and Ale are crammed in the underground bunker. Alex lays on a table, while J'onn tries to tend to her wounds. J'onn speaks, still clearly feeling the obligation of the host, "this is just a delay, that's all this is. All major theme parks have had delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked, nothing."

  
"J'onn...." Lena growls.

 

Alex smirked, "true, but if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists."

 

"I can't wait anymore," Lena cuts in, "something went wrong. I'm going to go get the power back on."

 

James steps in front of her, his hand raised, "you can't just stroll down the road, you know."

 

"James, let's not be too hasty," J'onn stops him, "he's only been gone..." he stares at his watch whilst James walks over to a steel cabinet. Lena joins him.

 

"I'm going with you," James states. He opens the steel cabinet, revealing an impressive amount of weaponry inside. He removes a shotgun and what looks like a small rocket launcher. He shoves a shell into the barrel of the rocket launcher, which accepts it. J'onn rushes over to a desk, searching out for a set of blueprints. He finds them and gets them out of the file cabinet. He brings them over to where Alex is lying and spreads them out on top of her, almost crushing her leg.

 

"Sorry," J'onn apologises as Lena and James join J'onn, "this isn't like switching on the kitchen light, but I think I can follow this and talk you through it," he states, gesturing to the blueprints.

 

"So explain," Lena commands as she gets a couple of walkie-talkies from the shelf and shoves them in her belt.

 

"But you know," J'onn shrugs, "I should really be the one going to go."

 

Lena smirks, "why?"

  
"Well, because you're a- I'm a-"

 

James shakes his head, sighing, "come on, let's go."

 

"We'll discuss sexism in survival situations when I get back," Lena calls out as she backs towards the door, "you just take me through this step by step. I'm on channel two."

 

* * *

 

Back in the jungle, Kara, Winn and Lucy are scrambling through the foliage, completely out of breath. They finally arrive at the base of the big electrical fence that surrounds the main compound area. Kara pants as she looks up at the fence. It must be over twenty feet high, "it's a bit of a climb. You guys think you can make it?"

 

Winn and Lucy don't hesitate in replying, "nope," and "way too high."

 

Kara nods, grabbing a stick and climbs up on the ledge. She looks at the warning light on the fence. It's out. She pokes the wire with a stick. No sparks fly, "well, I guess that means the power's off," although, still not trusting the fence, she taps it with her foot. She moves in slowly, the kids watching warily and lays both hands on a cable and closes his fingers around it. Kara's body shakes.

 

She screams. The kids scream.

 

Kara stops and turns around slowly... smiling wickedly.

  
"That's not funny," Lucy complains.

 

"That was great!" Winn cuts his sister off. 

 

Far in the distance, the T-Rex roars. Without a second's delay, both kids leap to their feet.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry I haven't uploaded in a long time. I've been busy with work now that it's the holidays.


	9. They're Hunting Us

Lena and James step out of the bunker into the warm air of the jungle, taking in the silence. The main compound feels different now. It belongs more to the jungle now than to civilisation. James has the big gun in his hands, his grip tightening as he looks around.

 

Lena raises the walkie-talkie to her mouth, "okay, I'm on channel two."

 

"Stick to my heels," James orders as he begins walking down the pathway. They both emerge from one path and come into a slightly more open area where the huge raptor pen stands silently, surrounded by the jungle. James slows down, with Lena right next to him. They notice a hole in the fence that surrounds the raptor pen. The metal is twisted, as if gnawed, the hole is large enough for an animal to slip through.

 

"Oh my god," Lena breathes, staring wide eyed at the torn metal.

 

"The shutdown must have turned off all the fences," James explains, grunting in frustration, "goddamn it! Even Mxyzptlik knew better than to mess with the raptor fence." He squats near the hole, looking at the ground. He sees three sets of footprints, following them with his eyes. They head off in different directions, but all in the jungle foliage on either side of them, "c'mon on, this way."

  
"I can see the shed from here! We can make it if we run!" Lena whispers, staring down the pathway.

 

James walks slowly, as if he heard something, shaking his head, "no. We can't."

  
"Why not?"

 

"Because we're being hunted," he replies, "from the bushes straight ahead."

 

Lena turns very slowly to face the bushes. At first, she doesn't see anything, but then there's something very faint, like a shifting of the light and a shadow seems to move in the bush, rustling the leaves.

 

"It's all right," James murmurs.

  
"Like hell it is!" Lena snaps.

 

James raises his weapon slowly to his shoulder, "run towards the shed. I've got her."

 

Lena backs up down the path slowly. James follows behind her, keeping his gun trained in the bushes. The shadow in the bushes moves too, at an even pace with them.

  
"Go!"

 

Lena, startled, turns and falls over a log. She quickly stands and starts to run towards the shed whilst James walks slowly into the bushes. She runs as fast as she possibly can, hopping over branches and flying across the open area at top speed. She comes to another log obstacle and she grabs a tree and swings over it. She nears the maintenance shed and doesn't look back. She reaches the door, blasts through it, and it behind her.

* * *

 

A hand comes into the foreground and takes a firm grip on one of the tight fence cables. Another hand follows it, then a third. Kara, Winn and Lucy climb over the fence, pulling themselves up by the tension wires, crawling right past a 'DANGER!' sign that tells them this fence ought to be electrified. 

* * *

Alex and J'onn hover over a complex diagram of the maintenance shed that's spread out in front of them. J'onn clutches the radio in his hand, almost praying to it. Finally, it crackles.

 

"I'm in. Mr. Arnold? Mr. Arnold?" Lena's voice cracks over the radio.

* * *

Lena is at the doorway of the maintenance shed, breathing hard from fear, listening to J'onn's voice on the radio, "great. Good. Okay. Ahead of you should be a metal stairway. Go down it," Lena does, heading into the room, shining the flashlight ahead of her. There is a maze of pipes. ducts, and electrical work on both sides of her. She walks straight ahead from the bottom of the metal stairs, "right. After twenty or thirty feet, you'll come to a T junction. Take a left."

  
Alex sighs in frustration, "J'onn. Just have her follow the main cable-"

 

"I understand how to read a schematic," J'onn snaps.

 

Lena keeps walking, nervous as hell. She looks around, "going down the stairs...okay... damn it! Dead end!"

 

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, there was a right back there somewhere-" J'onn stutters.

 

Alex rolls her eyes and snatches the walkie-talkie from his hands, "Lena? Look above you- there should be a large bundle of cable and pipes all leading in the same direction! Follow that!"

 

Lena looks up and sees the bunch of cables and follows it into a main corridor, "piping...okay... following the piping. It goes back up the stairs and across the stairs... following the stairs."

 

"Look for a metal grate and follow that in it's longest direction," J'onn adds.

 

"Mr. Arnold? He's not answering me," Lena replies.

 

"Good! Keep going, now. The cable will terminate in a big, grey box."

 

"Okay, I'm following the tubing. I'm going down a passage way. How long does this stuff go for?" Walking fast, Lena follows the tubing to the end of the corridor, where she sees a box, "okay- I see the grey box," she goes through a mesh gate and walks towards the grey box, "it says 'High Voltage'," she pushes the door open even further, revealing a vast array of breakers and switches inside.

 

"Now, Lena, you can't just throw the main switch by hand, you have to pump up the primer handle to give you a charge. It's a large, flat, grey-"

  
"I see it!" Lena cuts J'onn off, staring at the button.

* * *

 

Kara and the kids swing over the top of the fence and begin their descent down the fence. 

* * *

 

Lena pumps the grey handle, which is sluggish. Above it, a small white indicator beeps, changing the sign over the 'discharged' to 'charged'. Lena slams the grey lever back into position, "it's charged, okay!"

 

"Right! Now, under the words 'contact position', there's a round green button that says 'push to close!' Push it!" J'onn explains.

 

She does. The 'contact position' light beeps over to 'closed' and lights start to go on all over the panel, "did I do it?"

* * *

Back in the jungle, Kara and Lucy continue to climb down the fence, although Winn is having difficulty. Just as he's about to take another step, he loses his footing and almost falls but regains control and hangs on.

* * *

Lena watches as the column of twelve white indicator lights flash on the control panel. They are clearly labelled, each one for a different area of the park.

 

"Now Lena, the red buttons turn on the individual park systems. Switch them on," J'onn speaks through the radio.

  
As Lena punches the buttons, they light up. Right at the bottom of the buttons, is the last sign. It's marked 'Perimeter Fence'.

* * *

Kara lets go, dropping the last few feet to the ground whilst Lucy does the same. A warning light begins to flash, coming back to life. Kara's eyes go wide. She looks up at Winn, who is still far up near the top, in fact, he has to come to a complete stop.

* * *

Lena keeps pushing the buttons. She's getting closer to the button for the fence.

* * *

Winn, terrified, has frozen where he is.

 

"Winn! You have to let go!" Kara yells up, cupping her hands around her mouth, "come on Winn, move down!"

 

"Winn! The power is coming, quick!" Lucy yells.

 

"I can't! I'm scared!" he yells back, clutching the fencing.

 

"Winn, you're gonna have to let go. I'm going to count to three," Kara replies.

  
  
"Jump! It's too late!" Lucy adds.

 

"I'm gonna fall!" he yells back,

  
"Jump!"

  
"You're crazy! I'm not gonna jump!" he complains.

 

"Winn, you're going to have to let go of the fence. Winn! Get down right now. Get off the fence! Now!" Kara puts on a commanding tone.

 

"Do as she says! The power's coming back!" Lucy snaps.

 

"Winn, let go! You're gonna have to let go! Count to three. I'll catch you," Kara promises.

 

"Fine! I'm coming up there! I'm coming to get you! Lucy, I've got to get him!" Kara steps up to the fence.

* * *

 

Lena finally pushes the button for the fences. It stops flashing and lights up, a brilliant white.

 

The power comes back on.

* * *

 

  
The fence hums as it awakens. Kara and Lucy are screaming at Winn.

 

"Okay, okay! I'm going to count to three. One, two, three..."

 

With a low, loud frightening buzz, the fence comes alive. Winn is cut off mid-sentence and literally thrown from the fence. He slams into Kara and they both fall to the ground. Lucy runs over to them.

 

Kara presses her fingers to his pulse point, "shit!" she looks up at Lucy, "he's not breathing!" 


	10. Winn. The Human Piece Of Toast

Lena watches in glee as the banks of fluorescent lights in the maintenance shed come on, one by one, "J'onn, I think it's safe to say we're back in business," she claps. The lights are going on in rows, coming closer and closer to her. Finally, her row comes on. She bathes in the light, her eyes following the trail before her eyes widen.

 

A raptor. Right there, behind the control panel.

 

It slashes its short arms, taking a lunging sweep at Lena but gets stuck, its feet and legs tangled in the maze of pipes on the floor. Despite her fear, Lena's eyes trail over the body of the dinosaur, getting her first good look at one of the things, and if it weren't so terrifying, she could admit that it truly is a thing of beauty, just like she and Kara always believed. It's the biggest of the raptors, intensely muscled and coordinated as hell. Lena screams in fear and falls back into the pipes on the other side of the aisle. The raptor manages to untangle itself from the pipes and stands up, giving chase just as Lena manages to slam the door closed. The raptor collides against the door and Lena falls to the ground. She holds on by kicking the door shut as the raptor continues to push itself through the door. Lena is eventually able to get the door closed. She stands, but then falls back onto one of the walls. An arm falls onto her shoulder.

 

"Oh, Mr. Arnold, thank god," she rests her hand on top of his, turning her body to face the man. Her eyes widen again. Ray Arnold is definitely there. What's left of him is stuck in the tangle of pipes. Lena moves away and his arm falls to the ground. She doesn't realise that she has moved right back near the wall and the raptor comes at her again. Lena takes off running as fast as she can back the way she came. She drags the flashlight with her, running over the dead arm and Arnold's legs. She continues to run, her headset dangling, the flashlight dragging behind her on its cord. She reaches the stairs and practically flies up them. The raptor must be right behind her. She can hear as it scrambles up the stairs, but she doesn't look back. She reaches the top, throws open the door, hurls herself outside and slams the door behind her just as the raptor's head snarls at her from near the top of the stairs. She runs out the fence and collapses to the ground.

* * *

 

Winn is still unmoving. Kara is performing CPR, alternately compressing Timmy's chest fifteen times, quickly, and breathing into his mouth twice. Lucy is freaking out.

 

Fifteen compressions. Two deep breaths, "c'mon, Winn," Kara begs as she presses into her chest. Another fifteen compressions. Another two deep breaths, "WINN!"

 

Winn gasps, coming to as his body jerks forward.

  
"That's it, Winn. That's it," Kara says soothingly as she cradles his head in her lap.

 

"Three," he croaks out.

* * *

 

James Olsen creeps slowly through the jungle foliage, tracking his prey. He ducks and walks through a hollow log underneath a fallen tree, gun in hand, following the rustling sound up ahead of him. He can see just a bit of the raptor's grey flesh as it moves behind the bushes up ahead, camouflaged enough to deny him a decent shot. Thinking he's got a moment, James extends the back handle of the gun and clicks it into place. He prepares to take aim. A snake slithers across a tree branch, past what looks like the large iris of a flower.

 

The flower blinks.

 

It's the eye of the raptor. James sees it and raises his gun. Instead of running away again, the raptor rises slowly out of the brush, fully revealing itself to James, hissing at him. The corners of James' mouth twitch up into a smile. He draws a bead on the animal, his fingers tensing on the trigger. Suddenly, his smile vanishes, both eyes pop open, and a terrible thought sweeps across his face as realisation dawns on his face. His eyes flick to the side, "clever girl."

 

The attack comes from the side. With a roar, another raptor comes flashing out of nowhere and pounces on him, just like Kara had explained to the child in the dig site. The gun fires but wildly, and the raptor's claw SLASHES through James' stomach, spilling his guts out all over onto the ground. James screams in pain and falls back and the raptor pounces on top of him, all tooth and claw all of a sudden. As the second raptor makes the kill, the first raptor strides slowly forward and watches approvingly. It throws its head back and lets out a shrieking call.

* * *

 

Kara, Winn and Lucy come into the deserted visitor's centre. A large sign that says 'When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth...' droops overhead. Kara carries Winn, who is weakened but conscious, calling out, "HELLO!" But nobody answers. They walk into the large restaurant area. Kara carefully sets Winn in a chair at one of the tables, with Lucy sitting across from him, "I'm gonna find the others and get you to a doctor. Will you look after Winn, Lucy?"

 

"Yes," Lucy nods. Kara nods back before looking at Winn.

 

"Your hair's all standing up," Kara comments, nudging a bit of Winn's now spiky hair, gently rearranging Winn's hair. Winn looks up at her weakly and manages a smile. Kara smiles back, "Winn, the human piece of toast." Winn laughs. Kara pauses for a second, as if debating something, "be back soon, guys. I promise."

 

She leaves. As she goes across the lobby of the visitor's centre and outside, they watch her silhouette, moving through a translucent wall that depicts dinosaurs in their natural settings. It's quiet for a second as Lucy and Winn just look at each other. Winn stands from his chair and goes across the room to the all-you-can-eat table on the other side, and quickly piles some food on a tray. He brings its back to the table. Lucy reaches over and digs in, munching on veggies and grabbing food with two hands whilst Winn enjoys his food, too. Lucy comes up with a spoonful of jelly from a plastic dinosaur egg cup but her hand freezes halfway to her mouth. Winn looks up and sees the expression on her face. She's staring over his shoulder, eyes wide with the jelly quivering in her shaking hands.

 

"What?" Winn asks, turning around. Behind him, one of the silhouettes on the mural is a raptor, in a hunting pose. While they stare, the silhouette of a real raptor moves out from behind it and creeps forward in the lobby of the visitor's centre. Winn gets up and grabs Lucy's hand, dragging her away from the table as her eyes stay on the silhouette, moving both of them into the kitchen. As they enter, Lucy pulls the shiny metal door shut as quietly as she can. It latches into the frame with a click but there's no lock. She runs to a panel of lights switches and kills them all, plunging the room into darkness. She helps Winn down an aisle and they hide at the end behind a counter, breathing hard. A raptor's head pops into view through the round window in the restaurant door. It looks around for a moment, its breath fogging up the window. The raptor can see a part of Winn's arm that is not entirely hidden by the counter. Winn and Lucy remain frozen in fear as the raptor sniffs at the bottom of the door, thumping its head against it but the door doesn't budge.

* * *

Kara walks quickly down the narrow path towards J'onn's compound, eyes darting from side to side, not exactly sure where she's going. From far off, she hears someone shouting at her. She turns and sees Lena standing outside the bunker. She's waving to him, shouting something too faint for her to hear. She furrows her brow and walks towards her. Lena shouts louder and Kara walks faster. She's closer now and Kara can finally make out what she's shouting.

 

"Run!"

 

Kara's eyes widen and she takes off running towards her, not even looking back. She races up and Lena runs into Kara's arms.

  
Lena frowns at her, "where are the kids?"

 

Lena leads Kara quickly to the bunker, greeting J'onn at the bottom of the stairs.

 

"ALEX!" Kara yells, flinging herself at Alex, who is still on the table, "I thought the T-Rex got you!"

 

Alex grunts in pain at the force but embraces Kara back, relishing in the hug, "knocked me out. Woke up later when Lena and James found me."

 

"Are you okay?"

 

"Unfortunately unable to walk," Alex shrugs, "other than that, I'm fine. I've been helping J'onn down here when I can. What about you? Where's the kids?"

 

"Back at the visitors centre," Kara replies, "Winn was electrocuted when the power came back on when we were climbing over the perimeter fence," Lena pales at that, "but he's okay now. He's with Lucy."

 

"Whilst this reunion is lovely Doctor Danvers, the kids, as you said, are at the centre and the raptors have escaped," J'onn cuts in, ending the moment. 

 

Kara nods, turning to Lena, "it's just the two raptors, right? You said the third one's contained."

 

"Yeah," Lena nods, laughing humorlessly, "unless they figured out how to open doors."

* * *

Outside the door to the kitchen, the raptor stares down at the door handle, cocking its head curiously. It bumps the door handle with its head but that doesn't do anything. It reaches out towards the handle with one of it's hands. Inside the kitchen, Winn and Lucy stare in shock as the door handle starts to turn towards the ground. The door eventually opens and the first raptor marches in, standing in the doorway as it draws itself up to its full height and looks around the kitchen. A second raptor suddenly joins it in the doorway at its side. They move into the room, brushing against each other. The first raptor turns its head and snaps at the second. 

 

They step further into the kitchen.


	11. When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth

The raptors split into the kitchen, both taking two different aisles. Winn and Lucy crawl away as silently as they possibly can, despite Winn being awfully weak now from the perimeter fence. They shuffle down the third aisle around the other side of the counter, away from the raptors who are moving in the opposite direction. As Winn and Lucy pass the raptors, one of the raptor's tails flail around and collide with with pots and pans that have piled up on one of the counters, knocking them off. They fall on top of the kids, who somehow manage to keep quiet, despite the raining metal. They keep moving as the other raptor dips down, looking through one of the open cabinets to inspect the racket. Winn and Lucy finally reach the end of the aisle and turn around a corner but Winn's falling behind now and he accidentally brushes against some hanging kitchen utensils. The raptors turn, with one pouncing onto the counter, knocking more kitchen stuff to the floor. A spoon comes to a stop next to Winn and the sounds confuse the raptors for a moment.

 

But then they move in Winn's direction, heading right for him. 

 

The raptor on the floor is just about to turn its head around the corner to see where Winn sits, exposed and exhausted, but both the raptors suddenly stop, hearing a repeated clattering sound from the other end of the aisle. It's Lucy, smacking a spoon on the floor to distract them. The raptor on the counter jumps back down and starts walking cautiously towards the noise, leaving Winn behind. Lucy sees a steel cabinet behind her with its sliding door slid up and open. She crawls inside silently. Winn sees the raptors make the turn towards Lucy, knocking more stuff around with their tails. So he turns and sees the large walk-in freezer in the far wall with a pin-locking handle. Whilst Lucy tries to pull the overhead door to the cabinet shut, one of the raptors rounds the corner and sees her. Lucy tries frantically to lower the cabinet door but it's stuck. Winn takes a few deep breathes, summons what little strength he has left and makes a break for the walk-in freezer. He's limping, practically dragging himself.

 

The raptor spots him with both raptors going into an attack crouch and they pounce, with one towards each of the kids. Lucy tugs on the cover whilst Winn's raptor charges after him, with just open floor space between them. Lucy's raptor collides into a shiny surface bearing her reflection, officially dazing the creature, sagging to the floor. Whilst this happens, Winn manages to reach the freezer, ripping the door open and falling inside. The floor is cold and slick with ice and his feet go right out from under him. He sprawls across the floor, rolling out of the way as the raptor slips too and falls into the freezer right past him, collided into the wall. Winn manages to drag himself to his feet and slips on the floor, out of the freezer. The raptor attempts to make one last lunge, right at Winn's heels with its mouth wide open but Lucy, who had managed to escape her raptor, slams the door shut just as Winn escapes, the raptor's head is caught for a second, howling in pain before it retreats, and Lucy's gets the door shut all the way. The raptor screams inside whilst Lucy jams the pin through the handle, locking the animal in. Behind them, the other raptor manages to stagger to is feet, smashing into stuff in the kitchen. Lucy throws her arm under Winn's shoulder again for support before taking off, out of the kitchen, leaving the predators behind.

 

They hurry across the restaurant, staring back over their shoulders as they run, crashing Kara and Lena. 

 

"It's in there!" Lucy pants, pointing back to the kitchen doors, "they're in there!"

  
"Control room," Lena commands, pushing Lucy behind her protectively as she and Kara watch the door.

 

The four of them race down towards the control room, Kara carrying Winn bridal style. The door to the control room opens and Kara, Lena and the kids rush in. Lena heads straight for Mxyzptlik's computer terminal whilst Kara moves Winn to the side before racing to the door to lock it.

  
"We can call for help?" Lucy asks, rushing towards one of the small desk phones.

 

"We've got to reboot the system first," Lena shakes her head as she presses buttons on the keyboard. She studies the screen. It's flashing to her, dominated by a grid. 

  
Kara, who is pressed up against the door, stares at the mechanical lock on the door, "the door locks," she yells, "Lena! Boot up the door locks! The door locks!" she raises her head to face the small, circular window and comes eye to eye with a raptor. She recoils back, relieving her pressure on the door, whilst dropping her gun. The raptor scratches its head against the door.

  
"Kara!" Lena yells and leaps out of the chair, racing over to the door to help her. The raptor snaps at them both, ramming itself against the door, trying to force its way into the control room. It's takes all Lena and Kara can do to hold the door against the animal but it bucks against them viciously.

 

"Sweetie, get back and boot up the door locks," Kara begs, pressing her entire body into the door.

  
"You can't hold it by yourself," Lena shakes her head.

 

"Fine. Try to reach the gun," Kara replies.

 

Lena nods, reaching out with her foot to try and hook herself onto the gun strap, but she can't reach it, "I can't get it unless I move!"

 

Back at the computers, Lucy watches them and Winn, who's still too tired to move. Despite Winn being superior with computers, Lucy makes her decision and slides quickly into the command chair at Mxyzptlik's terminal, staring at the screen for a moment, "Winn. What is this?"

 

Winn groggily lifts his head, staring at the screen, "it looks like a Unix system Luce. I... I know this. It should have the files for the whole park. It's kinda like a phone book. It tells you everything."

 

Lucy nods, and her fingers start to fly over the keyboard. Winn watches as the computer starts to respond to Lucy's commands, dropping some hints.

 

"So I've got to find the right file?" Lucy asks, speeding through the computer files, "I don't think this is right," she changes to another, "this might be right... no this isn't it."

 

"C'mon, Lucy," Winn gets to his feet and limps to his sister, "it should be under something like security or park security."

 

Lucy nods, and scrolls through the files before reaching another menu. She spots a box on the screen that reads 'PARK INTEGRITY'. She moves the cursor to the file and clicks it, revealing an entire sub section on the screen, "I think it might be here." She scrolls through more files, going through section after section, "wait! 'DOOR SECURITY'. This should be it!" she clicks on the red file and the file loads up, revealing a small map of the park with green coding next to it. A large red rectangle with the words 'ACTIVATE' sits in the bottom right corner, "there it is! I got it!" she clicks on the button and changes to green. The small map lights up, the red lights covering the map turning green one by one, including where they are, "this is it, I did it. Yes! Yes!"

 

The door latch buzzes as it activates and Kara and Lena put one last barge into it, finally cramming the door shut, officially locking the raptor outside.

  
  
"What works?" Lena asks as she rushes to Lucy's side.

 

"Phones. Security systems, everything works," Lucy asks as she goes through every file, activating them all, "you ask for it, we got it."

* * *

 

Back in the bunker. The phone rings and J'onn and Alex look at each other, wide-eyed. J'onn practically lunges for it, "Danvers! Are the children alright?"

* * *

Back in the security room, all the screens in the control room come alive and data begins scrolling by at an incredible speed as every remaining system is the park comes back online. Lena is also at the keyboard with Lucy at this point whilst Kara is on the phone.

  
"The children are fine," Kara reassures, laughing in relief.

* * *

J'onn is on the phone whilst Alex tries to listen.

 

"Thank God," J'onn sighs in relief, slumping against the desk.

  
"Listen, the phones are back up! Call the mainland!" Kara urges over the phone, "tell them to send the damn helicopters-"

 

Suddenly, Kara stops in the middle of her sentence.

 

A scream suddenly rings into J'onn's ear before three gunshots, all fast ring through the phone  before a clunking sound is heard as the phone is dropped.

 

"Kara! Kara!" J'onn screams as Alex watches in horror.

 

There's no answer.

* * *

Kara's rifle lies on the floor, smoking with several spent shells alongside it, officially out of ammo. One of the windows of the control room has huge impact shatter patterns in the glass, where the gunshots hit. Above, Winn climbs into an open panel through the ceiling and into the crawl space whilst Lucy climbs the ladder, followed by Lena and Kara, who looks over to the front window, scared as hell as it shatters in a shower of glass with a raptor lunging into the control room. It lands on its feet on top of a work station console, images from the wall projector covering its head. Kara vaults herself up into the ceiling, knocking the ladder with her feet. The raptor tilts its head curiously as it watches the swaying ceiling.

  
Inside the crawl space, Kara, Lena and the kids dash across the ceiling panels, moving fast but carefully, trying not to break through. One of the ceiling tiles suddenly raises into the top of the crawl space as the raptor's head bursts through one of the panels behind them, snapping its jaws at the group before dropping down again. They keep moving forward but now it tears through a panel right in front of them. They all yell in surprise and fear, its teeth just inches from of Lena's face but the raptor can't hold itself up, falling back to the floor of the control room. Kara looks around frantically and spots an air duct a few yards away.

  
"Follow me!" she urges, turning quickly and shuffling towards the hole in the wall. They all follow her, but the raptor's head crashes through the ceiling again, this time right underneath Lucy. She screams in fear as she is lifted up on top of its head, pinned to the ceiling above. Kara turns and smasher her foot into the raptor's snout. The raptor jerks at him, its teeth sinking only slightly into her boot for a second before the raptor's own weight pulls it back down. Kara seethes in pain in response, but lunges forward for Lucy, who goes down with the raptor. Kara reaches out and manages to grab her by the collar at the last second. Below, the animal flips onto its feet and pounces just as Kara manages to pull Lucy back into the ceiling. The raptor springs, but too late, as Kara and Lucy scramble over to the air duct and join Lena and Winn inside it. They all crawl through the air duct as fast at they can, with the thin metal creasing around them as the raptor tries to pierce the metal. They eventually reach a metal gate that shows daylight beneath. Lena and Winn reach out and pull it up, opening up the vent. Through the gate, they can that see that they are above the lobby of the visitor's centre below. They're directly above the skeletons of the T-Rex and the sauropod it's attacking. The unfinished skeletons are surrounded by scaffolding.

  
Kara and Lena climb down onto the nearest scaffolding platform, both helping Winn and Lucy down. They start to climb down the platforms. Before they can reach the floor, they turn to climb down, coming face to face with a Velociraptor, which stands to the side by the second floor railing. Kara looks down, seeing that it's much too far to jump down to the ground, so she gestures for the others to stay before climbing gingerly onto the nearest skeleton. Realising it's safe, Kara urges for them to follow suite and they all climb down as fast as they can. Kara helps Winn down whilst Lucy and Lena follow, who goes to the tail whilst Lucy moves to the front. Kara lands on the main body in the middle with Winn.

 

The raptor just watches them.

 

Up in the ceiling, the anchors that hold the skeleton up groan in distress, starting to pull free from the plaster, but they still hold. The raptor finally has enough and leaps out, landing on the back of the middle section of the skeleton. The extra weight puts too much pressure on the skeleton and falls apart with the weight, sending the sections spinning in all different directions. Kara clutches Winn to her side whilst their section spins out of control, whilst Winn begins to slide down, out of her grasp. Kara tries to hold on to him but Winn loses his grip and drops to the ground, underneath the swinging section of the dinosaur skeleton. Meanwhile, Lucy is spinning on the front section of the skeleton. She tries to clutch at the bone but slips. She tries to keep herself from falling as she hangs by her legs but the anchor bolts in the ceiling tear away, flying past all of them. The entire Brachiosaurus skeleton collapses, sending Lena to the ground, who covers herself with her arms to protect herself from the falling bones. Lucy falls too, landing on the ground with bones falling on top of her, screaming. Kara, alone in the middle section, looks up and sees the cable tearing. She jumps, falling to the ground with the large section following, heading straight for Winn, who is laying where he fell on the ground. It crashes around his body, leaving just enough space for him to be safe.

  
The raptor shrieks as it too tumbles to the floor in a cascade of splintering bone, landing on its back a few yards away with the wind knocked out of it. Kara lands in front of Winn, going to him. Lucy sits up and sees the raptor regain its feet. She screams. Lena stands, noticing the shadow of the second raptor standing behind the transparent sheet behind the scaffolding. She stops in her tracks before backing up towards Kara and Winn. The raptor comes out from under the plastic and looks around, watching the group. Kara is getting Winn out from under the skeleton when Lucy joins them. They back away from the raptor that approaches from their left side, backing up against the large rock in the middle of the room holding the other skeleton. The raptors crouch in their attack stance, the group caught in the middle of the two as Kara protectively stands in front of them all, arms out to shield the group. Lucy looks back and slaps Kara's arm, who turns around gapes in awe. Lena and Winn turn around to see their view and gasp in surprise.  

 

The raptors, not focused on what they had seen, decided to attack. One of them lunges, nearly reaching them before being snatched out of the air by a large jaw. 

 

It's the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

 

It's massive head descends down from above, jaw open wide when its six-foot jaws clamp down on the raptors midsection. All eighteen inch teeth sink into its side and the helpless animal howls in agony as it's lifted up off the floor of the lobby. The T-Rex opens its jaw wide and catches the bleeding raptor, crunching down on the animal and killing it instantly as the animal goes down the T-Rex's throat. Kara and the others look up in stunned amazement, stepping back behind the rock for safety as they look to the right. They watch another raptor approach but it's suddenly stopped as the T-Rex locks its jaw around the entirety of the Velociraptor's tail and flings it off the floor, colliding it into the wooden scaffolding which splinters and pierces through the animals body.

 

It's dead before it hits the floor.

 

The T-Rex stands in the entrance to the lobby in front of the massive hole it ripped through the back wall. it stares down at the group. Kara, Lena and the kids shuffle on the lobby floor and dash to the door of the lobby. The T-Rex looks like it's about to attack when the final raptor turns from the group and jumps at the T-Rex's neck, leaping twelve feet into the air. It brings its claws down onto the neck and tears through the flesh, causing the T-Rex to roar in pain. She turns on the raptor, eyes raging and strikes just once, quickly. It catches the raptor by its back end and sinks its teeth through the entirety of the body. She quickly jerks her head to the side and because of the raptors claws being dug inside the T-Rex's skin, it rips the last Velociraptor completely in half.

 

The T-Rex whirls around and as it turns, its heavy tail snaps the other way, sweeping across the entire lobby and tears right through the T-Rex skeleton. The skeleton collapses, falling to pieces around the living counterpart. The T-Rex stands majestically in the middle of the lobby, both skeletons on the floor. The Tyrannosaurus Rex draws itself up to its full height and lets out a final, almighty roar, which vibrates the entire room, causing the sign which dangles over the lobby to fall.

 

'WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH'.

* * *

J'onn forces the Jeep to a halt in front of the steps, Alex in the back, gun in hand. Kara and the others sprint out of the building, racing down the steps as they lung at the car, practically falling into the Jeep.

 

"Mr. J'onzz?" Kara pants as she regains her breathe, "after careful consideration. I've decided not to endorse your Park."

  
  
"After careful consideration, Dr. Danvers, so have I," J'onn nods in response before hitting the gas and taking off.

* * *

The helicopter rotors whirl to life as the chopper waits on the landing cross, back where they all originally arrived. Two Jeeps stop next to it, one driven by Kara whilst the other is driven by J'onn, both having stopped to pile into a second Jeep to free space in the first Jeep. They all rush out of the cars and one by one, they climb aboard the helicopter, their faces white from their ordeal. Lena comes on first, clutching Lucy, followed by J'onn, who is carrying Winn. Kara comes in last, holding onto Alex who limps on board. No one speaks. Instead, J'onn takes another look at his dream. Kara comes over and takes him by the arm back to the helicopter. The helicopter takes off immediately the moment everyone is seated. As they rise into the air, they all stare out the windows, looking down on the park as it spreads out below.

 

Back in the park, as the helicopter soars over it. The Tyrannosaurus Rex, which is feeding on the remains of the dinosaurs it had ran down and killed, looks up. It throws its head back and roars, waving its little forelimbs at the strange animal in frustration as it leaves. As the helicopter moves off, the T-Rex just stares silently with its huge, yellow eyes. It's a moment of utter bewilderment for the animal.

* * *

Back in the helicopter, J'onn looks down at the park, his eyes sad before he looks over at the kids. They're in the back of the helicopter with Kara. As they look out the window, Kara has her arms around both kids, absentmindedly. Lena looks at her. Both Kara and the kids seem so natural, so obviously comfortable and trusting with each other. Lena smiles. The four of them sit that way, Alex asleep, in the back of the helicopter, huddled together. Survivors. Kara looks out the window as the helicopter sweeps low over a huge flock of sea birds that's feeding on a school of fish. As the chopper comes near, it causes the flock to fly off. Hundreds of birds sail off in all directions, all graceful.

  
Kara looks at the bids and breaks into a grin, and for the first time, truly appreciates the modern animal. The birds reform as flock again and fly straight into the direction of the sun.

 

Kara closes her eyes and drops her head to the back of the helicopter behind her head and finally lets herself sleep.

 

Finally.


End file.
